Tell me, do you bleed?
by Gnaoh El Nart
Summary: What happens when the world sees another male IS pilot? What happens when the said pilot is extremely competent and a verified IS-killer? What happens when he is a hardened veteran? What happens when he decide to enrol at the IS Academy with the others? To sum it up, the answer is simple: one hell of an adventure.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, this fic is actually a story-only work of my quest "Tell me, do you bleed?". The quest is currently running on Space Battle and Sufficient Velocity forums. I would be grateful if you guys drop by and join in with the quest. The fic here translates the second point of view (quest) into the first point of view, I plan to add more emotion, thinking and reasoning in this incarnation of my work.**

 **My synopsis is simple: An OC who is opposite to the protagonist (Orimura Ichika). While both male IS pilots approach and activate IS suits on accidents, Ichika does that in peace time while my OC does so on the battlefield. While Ichika is a peace-loving dude, my OC has no problem throwing himself in the thick of the actions. While Ichika lacks the conviction to fight, my OC just laughs in the face of death. After all, he has already earned that right.**

* * *

Infinite Stratos, abbreviated as IS, was a _wunderwaffe_ , or wonder weapon. However, unlike the original (Nazi) German ones, it worked – in the utmost horrifying way possible. Not the military application though, humanity had always dreamt of better and more efficient ways to kill others. No, it was most horrifying in the social aspect. For some reasons, only women could pilot them.

According to an interview by the inventor of the suit, Shinonono Tabane, it came as an accident, she did not plan to make it women-only possession. However, she had neither plan nor desire to fix that. The result was as shit as one could expect. The feminazis had a banner to flock to, and the sex equality quickly became women supremacy.

Heh, it came as a price though. In many places, boys and men fought tooth and nail to protect the last dignity they had, never accepting bowing down for some pieces of scraps. A full regiment of Chinese PLA dared to stand in line, blocking the march of some women elitist. In Vietnam, a country-wide brawl took place in schools within a single day, showing the defiance of the male students when asked to "step down". In USA, well, at least the casualty of the mass shooting series was very low – less than ten deaths in total for fifty incidents. To think that all ten deaths were actually criminals, drug dealers and terrorists, God must be rolling on the heaven's floor laughing.

Things calmed down with a series of social policies and Alaska Treaty – limiting the usage of IS to sports (dafug?), self-defense and space exploration. The last two had not progressed much in the last ten years of the IS's existence. If this was a year prior, I would not even care about it. Too bad, with my situation, I HAD TO care about it.

Why? Because the fokker babbling for the last two minute, a.k.a. me, was a male, seventeen of age, and he was capable of piloting an IS suit with one confirmed IS kill and one more assist.

My name was Nguyen Quang Anh, and I was a Vietnamese Commando, an IS Pilot, and well, my life was as fucked up as ever.

* * *

It began in the most terrible way possible. Vietnam was invaded and attacked by foreign military again. Not intentionally though, they were the ones planning a coup in a nearby country and failed to gain power. They were chased out of their homeland and in their fright, they decided to attack my country. Invading a country spending over a hundred years in modern time to expel the invaders? No one said those people were in their right mind, obviously.

However, they were able to gain initiative, punching a hole on our border and going in. Their most successful achievement was to capture a city, MY home city. I should had been able to evacuate with my families, but shit happened, my family was killed along with the convoy right in front of my eyes. I was… in a daze, a blood rage, afterwards. I still remembered what I did and why I did those, but… those were not exactly "me" doing it. It was more like the hidden demon inside me taking control of my limbs and just did the job. Luckily, it only took place for less than a week. By the time I came to, I had already joined in with a rag-tag band of militia and had a few solid kills (and executions) under my belt. My team, eight male students, did not know the name of each other, we simply called ourselves by nicknames. It sounded strange, but that bunch of idiots was responsible for over two hundred kills, traitors and invaders alike, after just three weeks, that was even _before_ we were trained by our special force operators – the ones infiltrating into the war zone to wreck chaos.

It went well for another two weeks, we scored kills after kills. Heck, we got our own nicknames from our enemies. I was called Grey Coat. Wonder why and how, really. Anyway, after five weeks, the news arrived, a counter-attack was on the way to liberate my city. To do that, however, we need to control a hill overlooking the approach route. My rag-tag team volunteered for that mission, along with virtually all other militia teams still fighting.

The battle went as one could expect at first. The hill was pampered with all kinds of guns. Mechanised assault, heli-drop, artillery barrage… Those were terrible, but we had seen worse with urban warfare already. We were still able to hold the line. We were still able to hold for long enough until reinforcement came. Then…

Two IS suits appeared.

Before we were able to calm down, our positions had been wrecked, blood and body parts flew in the air, throwing up the iconic stench smell of war into the air. One of them landed near my team's position, planning to take us out by hands. It was terrible, especially when we watched her laughed at our hail of fire with her sadistic smile. Despite being hit by all kind of guns, she still lazily waved her blood-soaked blade in her hands.

By then, my team had run out of ammunition, we only had a bunch of plastic explosive blocks on our rigs. So, we did what every sensible man would do – we charged. On our lips were the curses and battle cries, we had already dropped our sanity by then, victory or death, nothing else mattered.

Heavy and Rocket were the first to die. The blade cut them through in half. Boomer, Blitz and Glatz quickly followed, disappearing in a mist of blood. Yet, the remainders, Kapkan, Wrex and me (Shorty) were able to get close to her. All eight blocks of explosive were planted. The other two were displaced quickly, but they were able to buy me the critical time to hit the detonator. I did not know how and why – **but we were able to kill her**. The IS pilot stopped death in her tracks, blood oozed out from her ears, mouths and eyes, then she collapsed on the ground. Yet, in the final moment, she was still able to cut deep on my chest.

The pain… it was overwhelming… But, for some reason, I was still able to see the second IS approaching… I dragged myself toward the first IS suit, pulling out the dead meat inside, and somehow, three seconds later, I was in the air, gunning toward the second one. I must have blanked out for quite a while then, because when I wake up again, I was standing on that second IS suit in the commandeered suit from the dead one. **The second pilot was also dead**. A dry and maniac laugh escape my throat, right before I realized that my entire body was numbed and the entire world started to tainted with blood red, then I lost my consciousness again.

This time, I did not wake up until three months after that, and it took me… a few more months to recover. As it turned out, my injury was… extensive. Very extensive. As in "I should be fucking dead". Let me spell it out, first, I lost **both of my eyes** due to rapid pressure change, I could only see normally thanks to a pair of bionic eyes. In addition, **my left arm** was cut off during combat with the second IS suit, most likely, cut off completely. It was lost somewhere on the battlefield, forcing a fake arm to be crafted for me. At least it came with an integrated computer, sufficient for entertainment and communication, and it was not connected to my nerve system, so no control from afar. Last and definitely not least, well, I lost both of **my heart** and **lung** , courtesy of a sword going through the bare-chest armour of the IS… At least I have a bionic heart and lung to replace them, so my stamina and resistant to poison gas would be very high. The ghost pain sometimes still lingered around, though.

It sounded short, but for six months straight, my life was bounded to the hospital. First for surgery, then to get used to the replacement and to re-socialize with the world at large. The PTSD was just… to strong. It took three busy months for me to get out of that hell. Three LONG months, I could say so. Nightmares still plagued my sleeps, but not as often as they used to, and I could drop my painkillers as well as my sleeping pill. It began my re-socialisation. A long and slow progress, but it was a progress nonetheless.

* * *

It went for a full week, then I could safely said that I had returned to a relative normal life. Of course, it went wrong as soon as one could expect it. My phone rang up at eight in the morning, and from the name logged on, it seemed that the General was calling. He was the one commanding the counter-attack, and with the fact that I had killed two IS suits, he considered that he should repay the debt incurred by my service and sacrifice. In addition, I was probably politically important, considering my ability to control an IS. Hitting the answer button, you bring the phone to your ears:

"Good morning sir."

"Morning kid. I suppose you had a good sleep?"

"Well, I couldn't sleep until three. But at least I didn't use sleeping pill or sat up screaming last night... So yeah, it was quite a good sleep."

"... You should visit the doctor, really. Staying like that is bad for your health."

"I'm still alive and able to kick arse, that's all I care. But anyway, why do you call me sir?"

"Well... you're the first male IS pilot. The news had yet to be leaked to the mass media, but... the high echelon wanted to... study you. By cutting you apart, or keeping you away for a very long, long time."

"Which could lead to potential terrible outcome. Intelligence leak, unstable mental of the subject or the mystery could not be found. Not to mention that a certain insane scientist may not want us to find the answer."

"... Damm kid, you are sharp."

"I aim to please sir. But you have yet to answer my question. Why do you call?"

"Hmm, I have been able to pull some strings. If you agree, you'd become a Cadet Officer, a Junior Cadet Officer to be precise. You'd start studying here for... eight months, the course also includes military training. Next school year you'd take a transfer to IS Academy and restart the high school program."

"... You want to throw me, a male teenager into a school full of female teenagers? For f***'s sake, I hate drama."

"But it beats being a lab rat."

"... Point."

"So, what do you think?"

"Any more details sir?"

"So, you have eight months left until the next school year in ISA, you'd spend the first two doing basic training. After that, you can pick a branch for further study. Army, Navy, Air force, Border Guard and Commando instructors had already told me that they agree to train you should you accept. Each branch had their own benefits for your future... adventure in ISA so choose carefully... [mumbling, talking to someone else] Oh, right, kid. I forgot. Some bloody egg-heads and spook also show... readiness to train you. But to be frank, take their offer with a grain of salt."

"How about our IS Cadet Representative?"

"You haven't heard? Her title was stripped due to unbecoming behaviours"

It meant she may or may not be related to some shadow and unsanctioned activities. Potentially a traitor. But it was not my problem. The higher up will take care of it, and probably make the whole fiasco looked like the drama (as usual)

"Oh, and one more thing kid. Are you free today?"

"... Yes, I'm free. Why do you ask sir?"

"We will give you an IS suit, your own IS suit. Come to my office in... three hours. Then I'll show you more in details."

"IS suit?"

"Yes. Personal IS suit... and don't swear. So, interested?"

"Yes... I'll be there. 1000 at your office right?"

"Correct."

That day went very well. My body was check once over again, confirming that all parts were working normally. It was just some paperwork and research stuff. All of the bionic parts were experimental and prototype, none had entered world-wide introduction, let alone mass production. I was freaked out at first, but with the fact that they had saved my life… well, I let it pass.

The next part was the IS suit selection. IS suits, originally, were designed for female. As a results, some (if not all) IS suits were blatantly designed to show off the pilot's figure and face - not like that it was a terrible idea. The pilots were dammed sexy, and as a perfectly fine male (yes, my gun was still in working condition after the whole debacle), I always enjoyed watching their body parts surging in the air – assuming they were not planning to kill me, of course.

However, from a tactical and engineering standpoint, reduction in armour was more harm than good, it reduced the overall protection power of the suit. Sure, the suit came along with a barrier, an energy shield, so to speak, but it was better to have the armour as back up for the shield rather than having the latter only. In addition, not having armour in certain areas meant that the sense of weight would be heavily screwed up, making the whole complex imbalance. A good pilot could calibrate that, but it took time and effort. It was probably much more cost-efficient to make armour in the first place.

The General nudged on my shoulder while pointing toward a mid-50 male wearing a lab coat in the room:

"Kid, that is Doctor Thanh, he is responsible for the IS program in our country. He is, or rather, was, the head of the maintenance and upgrade crew of our cadet representative. Until..."

"Until that pompous bitch was apprehended in a drug trade. Good riddance I'd say."

The Doctor quickly cut off the line of the General. Well, seemed like things were more intense than I thought. But seriously? Drug trade? Someone gonna get shot within this month... Yeah, right, good riddance. No tears for the wicked then.

"Well, I won't say that with such... emotion. But..."

"Yes, I mean it. She was a spoiled brat, a queen bee, or a queen bitch, depending on who you ask. The entire technical team merely tolerated her. The drug trade was simply the exploding point... Or so I thought. We have suspicion that she was trading drugs, but no solid proof. She must have pissed someone off seriously."

"Aye... Anyhow, Doc. Anyway, this is the pilot I told you about. A male IS pilot."

The General slapped my shoulder, making me winced slightly. He just forgot that I was just a bunch of meat six months ago right? Dang. That old man must be hoping to push you to the edge. But, he had just introduced me, and it would be impolite to disregard the elder:

"Good morning doc. My name is Quang Anh, 16, active Militia, battered, bruised, but still standing. Nice to meet you."

The doctor just laughed:

"Hah, I like this kid already. Polite... and deadly. Yes, kid, I read your file. Standard procedure, hope you don't mind. But anyway, we have some suits, three of them, for you to choose from. And in case you are wondering, yes, we put them together in four months. Two of them, anyway."

He began to introduce the three IS suits... One was the suit that the former IS Cadet Representative used, a Rafael IS suit, Revive-V variant. It was customised suit from the mass-production 2nd generation IS Rafale Revive Basic, the "V" variant retains the customisation ability of the original model. The armed forces had colourfully described this suit as the "Moar Dakka" option. It is quite apt with a lot of guns attached. However, the close quarter combat ability is limited with only a single beam blade. With a moderate flexibility, it made up its weakness of being light and weak. This suit was quickly disregarded however, I had no plan to use the suit of a criminal or a failure, not to mention that the stigma would be strong. Besides, the suit was too light-weight for my liking, I preferred something more… solid.

The doctor, upon hearing the answer, quickly showed me the second suit, an Uchigane . Interesting enough, this was also the suit I "recovered" from the battlefield, my spoil of war, so to speak. Durable, firm and unyielding, practically what people think about a bland suit. They were right. This suit was easy to use by newbie and still a verify threat in the hands of aces. Use this, and I would send a (not-so) subtle message to the band of rouges, that I was coming for them, and they better not let me found them wanting. However, this suit was useless in ranged combat, being strictly a melee type unit. The suit itself was not modded either, making controlling it… hard. Therefore, you have no option but to turn it down.

Hope the last one was better. Luckily, you did not have to disappoint. The last one was actually _another_ prototype, numbered **GAT-X105** and code-named " **Flying Dragon** ". It was the first (and probably only) IS suit built in and by my country. Well, not precisely, the suit was the child coming from multiple countries, including Russia and Vietnam. Just like other 2nd gen suits, this suit functioned as a well-rounded machine. But, as a prototype for the 2.5th gen, this machine can do more than that. Highly modular, this suit pushed the idea for customisation to the next level. The amount of add-on for the suit was staggering, to say the least. In addition, the GAT was also designed as a highly flexible combatant, fighting both in close- and long-range.

I liked it right from the beginning. The suit's appearance was not menacing, but it was not friendly too, it just screamed out "business" with the grey skin and full-on armour. Seemed that the brass also put the ability to withstand CBRN threats in the design requirement. And after looking through the list of add-ons and upgrades, I instantly picked the "Flying Dragon".

The suit was then upgraded with a few programs, increasing the manoeuvrability on both ground and aerial, giving a better synch between me and the suit as well as a package of electronic warfare. The last part was for war, obviously. Just in case some IS pilots had the bright idea to shut me up, they would be in for a surprise when unable to lock me down or to call reinforcement. Wonder what their faces would look like…

The last part of the day, however, was to pick a military service. Like it or not, I was told I was too important to lose, and because I did not want to become a lab rat, my only option was to enrol in the Infinite Stratos Academy, or ISA. In there, my profile would attract a lot of attention, and with those attention came hostile intent. Better to prevent than to cure, and with that idea, it was better for me to have some training to self-defense, and gather intelligence if needed.

The list was quite extensive, from the bulwark Ground force, the steel Navy to the speedy Air force. Of course, the Intelligence Department and R&D Group also joined in, inviting me to their services. Too bad for them, I preferred the **Commando** , Special force and Elite light infantry. With general purpose training, I could have a solid training background with stamina, better strength, stamina, reflex… not to mention some moral boost or specialist skill. After that, I can pick further training, may be Ranger Commando for urban warfare, or Airborne with rapid response formation, or may be Ground Commando with infiltration purposes, heck, even Naval Commando, which is roughly on par with US Navy SEAL in terms of dedication and training.

Too bad, with less than a year off to the enrolment of the ISA, I could only pick the general training, but it was enough already.

* * *

The training began less than a week later. I was shipped toward a camp in the middle of nowhere. It was a bland camp, but no less threatening. The atmosphere there could make the hearts of newbies like me dead in the track. Unlike others, however, I knew what I wanted. It was simple – for however complicated and painful the war was.

 _I just wanted to protect them._ My friends. My family. My comrades. My _home._

When Ishot down enemy after enemy, staining the streets of your homeland with their blood, that was what I thought. When I dragged your dismembered allies into cover, tears streaming down your face, that was what I thought. When I dived over top your comrades, protecting them from the artillery shrapnel with my body, that was what I thought. When I flew through the sky, pushing the commandeered IS far faster than it was ever meant to fly, _tearing my body apart, I still kept fighting._ **_I had merely wanted to protect them.  
_**  
And there, I stood at attention, ten years younger than all the men to my side during the Commando training, I knew you would not fail. Because, even if I had lost your arms, had lost my heart, and my lungs, I yet still wanted to protect them.

* * *

Still, the part where I had to graduate was… pretty traumatising. A full SERE exam – Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape. It certainly was not an easy piece of cake, it was a bitter experience… I was captured and put through an interrogation course, then the torture simulation. Even though it was just "a test", it was very real, too real for my liking in fact. The pain of my loss was still fresh in my mind, numbing my sense and my judgment. In that state, I felt like he could take on everything the world had to throw at me while laughing maniacally. Sure, it would hurt, tremendously in all likelihood, but I would weather it easily.

I thought I had been broken down before. No, _this_ was what it felt like to be broken, or near it. Left alone in the darkness, in the rancid musk of his bamboo cage. I did not recall how long I had been there by that time. Well, more than a month, probably. It had been the second day of November, and the beatings would continue, strapped to chairs or tables, among the pounding rain and deafening thunder. My teachers were starting to get 'creative' with their methods. Kudos for them, at least.

On that final day, I made up my mind with a snorted, partly to get rid of the stench in my nose, partly in derision at their constant tortures. But if those Americans could take it, then so could I. I would not spill, or shatter. But hey, I did want to reform, to be molded into something more, so I could not afford to be snapped there.

Then, I shuffled over to the bamboo 'wall' with my feet were caked in mud, the 'floor' nothing more than a pig's stye. I was pretty sure it was a pig stye that had been repurposed during the war. From the crevices between the sticks, I caught glimpses of guard patrols, their shadows passing routinely, blocking the commandant's office lamp from across the compound. By my cage, just near the northern corner around the outhouses and the supply stash, there was one guy with the Kalash who came by from the mess hall every 10 minutes. That was the one I gotta to nail to get out.

Digging my grimy fingers into the mud, I made a hole, a hole that had already progressed to a point where a small dog could squirm through, and continued ripping out the wet earth. A mirthless smirk crept on my face, thinking about it. I was a dog, then. A dirt ridden dog. Rabid. Dangerous. Lethal.

It had been large enough that I could force my way through, the slick mud lubricating my escape, but not before I ripped some of my skin across the dried plant matter. It did not matter. My fingers bled from all the work they had done, a few more drops was not going to fucking matter.

I could hear the footsteps coming around the corner, the shadow growing longer and longer among the dim light. Breathing was the key. In, hold and out. I calmed, then readied. The moment the muzzle popped past the wall, it was game over for the prick. A sudden chop to the neck took the bastard's voice. Quick and sharp blows to the chest and abdomen leave the guard down on all fours. A final punch in the face knocks him out. All took less than three seconds, there was no sound or any flicker of light. My coat of stealth remained.

I fished the Kalashnikov from the mud. It, too, was coated in mud and blood. Kind of like me there, a bizarre mix of brown and red. Fortunately, I had nature to thank for washing it off of me, but the cold shivers in his spine did not agree with it too much. At least it gave me a small boost of adrenaline, waking me up from the dizzy of the cold.

In that weather, in that time of day, in the mud, I would be unseen. No fence or wall was going to stop me. Still, there was only one last thing to do to complete the scenario. Well, maybe two. I grin feral after that while approaching the command post from the shadow – it was time for some payback.

The poor commander of the camp was hit from the back and knocked out. I simply removed all of his clothes and tied him to a chair afterwards. Of course I put a small blanket over his body – I was cynical and slightly sadistic, but I was not heartless. I was then able to got out of there undetected. Mission accomplished

Needless to say, I passed with flying colours, being one of the latest to be captured, really. The experience of urban warfare helped me greatly there. For the poor commander of the camp, he had the "pay back", as in having me reprimanded by the superiors. It was nothing much, just some light cleaning duty for a week – just in time for my recovery after the SERE.

* * *

That was my story. The story of a highly deadly IS pilot trainee. Sure, my experience with a suit was minimum – I could make it move and shoot only – but my non-IS combat was top-notch. Among the five hundred-ish students at the Academy, I thought that there would be less than twenty could challenge me in that field. Add in the fact that I was (probably) the only verified IS killer, the number of girls who dared to cross my path would be even lower. After all, speaking to a killer was always a nerve-wrecking experience, not many pompous princesses had enough guts, let alone skills, to do so.

Still, even then, my order was simple: I was not allowed to instigate any hostile relationship. Even if I had already refused the position of a Cadet Representative (too much paperwork, too much diplomatic and politics, and too much boob-flashing), my reputation would consider me as one. Therefore, my actions would be judged in that mental, they would believe that I was representing my home country as a Cadet Rep, not a normal IS pilot trainee. A single mis-step and things would go ka-boom in my face. That was assuming that excrement had not hit the electrical rotating devices earlier.

At least I was not alone in the adventure. As it turned out, I was the second male IS pilot. Of course, chronically, I was the first, but my country decided to hide the issue, making me the second one. The dude was Orimura Ichika, Japanese, sixteen year old, high-school student, nothing too… abnormal. May be he had some talent in sword fighting or kendo, but that was all. Intelligence operatives also put a word of "wuss" in the notes, suggesting his... inability to fight seriously - as in fight where one's life was at stake. His family, however, was another issue. His elder sister was Orimura Chifuyu, the Brunhilde, one of the best IS pilots on the world, champion of Mondo Grosso three times in a row. Her retirement was a mystery, but words said that it was a payment to have her brother rescued in a kidnap attempt of sort. Even then, her profile was impressive enough, definitely someone I did NOT want to mess up with.

Unless I had her in my sight from 500m away, of course. At this range, unless she was wearing an IS suit, I had all they key components to win.

I absorbed all kind of information I could on the flight from Vietnam to Japan, trying to plot a general _modus operandi_ while living there. When the plane landed, I knew, it was the time for my adventure to begin. Heh, I had enough training, I had enough lethality, and I had my IS suit.

What could possibly go wrong? I was attacked before reaching the Academy? I was involved in some world-wide conspiracy? I made myself a harem out of traumatized girls? Heh, I did not think those were possible. After all, what was the chance for them to happen?

* * *

 **Actually** **, if you have joined my quest, you will know the answer: All three of them took place.**


	2. Chapter 2: The raging first day

**Chapter 2: The raging first day (Part 1)**

* * *

I thought the invention of Infinite Stratos had struck a hammering blow on the average critical thinking ability and average IQ level of humanity, but seriously, that was still too much! Charging ahead against an IS suit when there was nothing left to lose to desperation, commandeering an IS suit to kill another one was quite suicidal, but still within the "brave" spectrum when "that fucker" was just doing his mission. However, the ISA was definitely neither brave, desperate nor what-not, they were just too extravagant and stupid!

Seriously, two male IS pilots were high value target, putting them on the same vehicle was equaled to putting multiple VIP in the same basket. A single attack would send them all to hell! Now, the Academy sent an extravagant white limousine with a group of PMC escorts…

Great. They must had forgotten to check the social media. That setting brought too much unwanted attention. Those bloody women were screaming for the _purity_ of the IS Academy. Men were shameful, they said, men must not be allowed to pilot IS, they ordered. I had not even reached the residence of the Orimuras yet and a migraine had already torture my head. In addition, some of my pre-war experience re-surfaced, flashing in front of my eyes. Being ridiculed, being bullied just for being males, the country-wide brawl which gave me a bloody nose and a broken teeth... Anger rose in my stomach, almost making me growl like an animal but I was able to quell it down in time. Wrath or anger was a good tool to boost one up, but it was only good when it was used in the right way, going around like a rabid was not.

And on the other hand, this was a fucking limousine. Period. Nice and comfy couch, AC turned on with metal music beating from the speaker. The fridge inside the vehicle was well-stocked with many kinds of drinks, sweets and snacks. Too bad that there was no beer – I like beer. Sure, a seventeen year old was not allowed to drink yet, but try to say that to a seventeen year old hardened killer and veteran. Still, the legal codes and the situation here forced me to pick up the ginger beer, it was still good enough.

The trip was quite smooth, testimony for Japanese skills and dedications in civil engineering. Heh, unlike my home country, the urbanization rate was just too high, making two airports were virtually "inside" the cities, not "a distant away". Still, it made the whole situation a lot more peaceful. I did not have to worry about ambushes or attacks, there was simply no angle to exploit, no dead spot to launch an attack from. Therefore, I just simply enjoyed the view and the melody while sipping my drink.

Outside, the passer-by sent a few curious glances, especially when they saw the emblem of the Academy painted on the hull. It was strange, but not uncommon. Many pompous "princesses" have already demanded the same treatment for a few years. Many had already chalked it up to another one... How wrong they are... But I had no desire to correct them. The Commando training had showed me hiding in plain sight or hiding in the least expected places could be overwhelmingly lethal.

However, the moment the limousine rolled into the city, I snapped back to attention mode. Living through a war as a Militia and training as a Commando have already taught you more than enough about Murphy. The same situation was quite alike the POTUS convoy – one could only knew the beginning and destination of the trips, and due to the randomness of the route, it was better to lay an ambush on either points.

In other words, if there was anyone wanted to attack, they would do so around here. My gut was feeling something. It was as if someone was really aiming for your head… I really hoped the JSDF had done a great job in securing the area. Because if they did not, I would be the one laying in a pool of blood.

And I was in no rush to die.

The white limousine ride stopped in front of a house. I took a glance through the black-tinted window... Well, it doesn't look any thing... special. For the first champion of the Mondo Grosso (and the second, if the kidnap did not happen), the house seemed pale for such a respectable figure such as Ms. Orimura to live. But then, I did not know anything about her situation, so I would not comment on it out loud.

On the steps, the boy, my future classmate, was stepping down. But something was wrong… From the file, the dude was kidnapped five years ago, leading to the forfeit of Ms. Orimura in the final round of the Mondo Grosso, taking away her fourth consecutive win. Intelligence was quite hush-hush about this, making further investigation impossible. Before, I thought it was the Missy who abandoned the fight to rescue her helpless younger brother - to be fair, I was even more helpless five years ago. Now, I was not so sure anymore.

His stance, his steps and his eyes, they all told the same story. This boy... no, this young man had killed before. May be one, may be two, or even more, not as many or as intense as I did, but it was more than enough to scare and haunt his mind. Heck, you saw his eyes every morning when you stared into the mirror. His kill count must be… No, it was better not to think about it. There was simply nothing but nightmares at the end of that line…

With that information, it would be better for me to be a nice guy. After all, being polite and respect could take me much further than being a dick. Not to mention that I had already learnt how to partially suppress my killing intent. In fact, other than the time I really really wanted to kill someone, no one could felt my displeasure. Playing this to my effect, I quickly got out of the car (after checking the surrounding windows and rooftops, of course) and helped the boy. Greeting, as usual, was initiated by a hand shake.

It displeasured you though. The guy had little strength in the grip and he had let you rotated the wrist, putting his hand under yours. Tidbits of human body language told you that Ichika was seriously lacking in a back bone. May be throwing him in the military could do something good. A month would be enough to drill some self-confidence in him, two if one wanted to be absolutely sure.

Still, you knew how to mask your emotion. Speaking that out loud would be highly unprofessional as well as impolite. You just simply smiled and helped the boy to put his suitcases in the trunk. It was done really quickly – Ichika had little belongings to speak off. It was just slightly more than yours, which was already minimum in the first place.

The two of us quickly got in the limousine and the convoy started soon afterwards. Popping him a cold can of soda, you scanned over Ichika again and quickly realized that the poor fucker still wore his uniform suit. The one supplied and used by IS Academy. Funny, school would not begin within 24 hours, and he had already suited up. I was still wearing T-shirt, trousers and a grey hoodie, though my clothes were practically screaming out military appearance and not "polite" like Ichika's.

Well, each man had his own taste, after all.

But it was still puzzling why we chose to wear it. May be because the suit was cool? It was cool and nice in the first place. White blazer, trousers and shirts, along with dark shoes, showed how well-manner one could be. At least, his uniform showed that, my uniform had been modified a bit, giving a few internal pockets for storing weapons and tools – just in case. _Si vis pacem, para bellum_ – If one wanted peace, prepare for war…

At least the changes were not that eye-catching, my suit still had a similar appearance as his. Ichika looks comfortable, nice and soft while the officers back home described me with the suit as "hardass", "pissed off" or "lethal". It was as if the two boys here were practically the Blue and Red Oni. And the two of us were going to a school full of girls…

Shite.

At least I had been taught some Japanese before coming here. It was crude and my accent just butchered the language, but it seemed like my speech was still understandable enough.

 _"Ey, how should we call each other? Sorry for not knowing the Japanese convention or your preference in time."_

Ichika seemed surprise, seeing that I could speak Japanese, even if I had to speak it slow and hesitate a few times.

 _"You can speak Japanese?"_

 _"A bit. And I can only speak and listen at a beginning level."_

 _"Okay… How does you guys call each other in your homeland?"_

 _"We just use each other's given name and roll with it, little to none honorific."_

 _"Really? Then I can call you… Anh?"_

 _"Or Quang Anh. Nguyen-kun if you want to be formal."_

 _"But there is no need to be formal, right?"_

Heh, I thought I could work with this. It seemed that Ichika was reasonable enough, not hardarse or asshole style. Living with him may be much easier than I had feared originally.

 _"Aye, no need to be formal, you can call me Quang Anh if I can call you Ichika. Deal?"_

 _"Deal."_

 _"… And can I use English now? I'm reaching the end of my Japanese skill here."_

 _"Sure, but let me take out my translator first."_

Ahh… The wonder of technology. The electronics had developed enough to recognize the voice and language of a given person, and then dealt with it accordingly. In this case, an universal translator could pick up his voice, slated as Japanese and then translated it into English. It took the better part of the last fifty years to have it working properly, though. It may took double the time for the translation to get out, but it still took less time in overall in trying to use a dictionary or babbling non-sense.

"Anyhow, Quang Anh, what is the problem?"

"Well, for starter, are you sure not being a lab rat a good idea?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure that I'm not gonna be poked and dissected… Wait, you also turned down that route?"

"Yeah, I chose going to school because I didn't want to be a lab rat. But…"

"But what?"

"The Academy has over 500 students, that is 500 hormonal teenage girls. We are the only two available male specimens within a 3km radius. So that is two hundred and fifty girls, on average, gunning for each of us. And I do not think they will be nice while pursuing us. If this is an anime, mate, this will be a big-arse Harem tag. And it's bound to get terrible, remember the anime School Days III and School Days II?"

"So… between a rock and a hard place?"

"Yeah…"

"Any idea on how to solve it?"

That, dear friends, was a million dollar question. No one knew how to answer that question. Of course, the Japanese had been trying to do so in multiple harem-tagged manga and anime. So far, apart from picking a girl, there was no "safe" solution. Of course, that was not taking into account the existence of any yandere girls or ladies. Their appearance alone could shift the entire balance.

Now, those girls were being trained to use tactical Weapon of Mass Destruction… The odds seemed extremely high and dangerous, one could lose his own life for failing here.

"I don't know. Really… May be... play it cool and friendly, I guess. Try to find someone you worth to be with, stay faithful to her to discourage any fan-girl with any funny ideas. While there is no one yet, try not to flirt with too many girls in the same time. That's the overall plan of mine anyway."

"You seems to be... knowledgeable..."

"I had too much free time a few years ago, wasted it by watching anime, harem and action tag... And no, I'm not knowledgeable, I'm simply prepared."

"So, the gist is that we stay friendly but not too much, and stay faithful once we are attached?"

"Correct, mate."

The two of us sighed in desperation in the same time afterwards. There was simply no escape for us, to get hitched or to get killed, or worse, both in the same time. It was never…

Then, the hair on the back of my head stood up, flaring warnings about incoming threat, a grave danger one. My eyes shot up, watching the surrounding, and then, I saw it, a trail of white smoking was gunning toward my limousine. Oh, fuck it!

"STO…"

The warning could not leave my mouth in time, the missile had already impacted with its target, a.k.a. my car and flipped it over. With no seat belts being used, both Ichika and me rolled together with the limousine. My heads bang on the ceiling a few times, my nose hit the windows constantly, and that was not to mention other kinds of impact. The last thing I remembered was seeing the floor coming close to my face.

* * *

I awaked two hours after that. At least my bionic eyes were still functioning properly, telling me the time and date. Too bad that they did not come along with some form of GPS or some sort of virtual screen, they were just experimental and prototype after all. Anyhow, I was still able to seem which meant things were looking good for me.

Hello, I was a fokker who had lost his heart, his lung, his eyes _and_ his left arm, remember?

I scanned around the room and my ingrained training quickly helped me to sort out the information. One was the time lost due to the knocked out blow: two hours. Two, I was being handcuffed from behind. Three, I was not in a hospital or any respectable locations, the room here seems to belong to an old house. Quite dusty and dark. Four, Ichika was being tied in a corner and had not awaken yet, probably because he had a lower pain tolerance than I. Five, a potential hostile was sitting in the room, with her back (pretty sure it's a "she") facing me.

I was trained as a Commando, meaning that I could break out and save the hostage (Ichika). I could also remove the handcuff too, it was pretty hard, but doable. Then I could fight my way out and/or try to contact reinforcement. Of course there was a risk, but there was risk in everything, and Commando was only sent when the risk was too high for the regular forces. Do or do note, there was no try.

While maintaining the façade of (still) being knocked out, I slightly shifted my body around and quickly confirm it: The enemy (whoever they were) had taken my entire weapon set away, my sidearm, my knife as well as my IS suit being stored in the ring form. Though... I could see them on the table next to the door. Well... at least the enemy seemed to be a bunch of stupid and morons, good, it would be easier to fight.

I would probably teach them a thing or two too. The fee of being stupid and incompetent in warfare was death.

Next items, myself. I was still wearing the clothes I used to while staying inside the limousine. Hm... That meant my virtue was still safe. Yay?! The more important part, however, was that my undersuit, made of nano-material, was also "on" your body. While it was thin and _not_ bullet proof, it was capable of stopping stabbing attacks. The shoes, being combat boots actually, were still firmly put on your feet.

In short, the enemy just took away my weapons and left in within easy reach. They just put one guard here. Well, they were really dickheads, were they not? Doing so to a... Oh, right, official news only said that you are a Militia, only making pot-shot in the war. The truth, well, just keep the Grey Coat being a mystery a while longer, it would not be polite to make girls wet themselves the first time meeting. Good, keep the enemy ignorant of your own ability. Getting out seems easier by the minute...

But it was not wise to get cocky first. There were too many moving parts, too many variables here… You started by watching the guard, the only woman in the room.

Surprisingly enough, she was a teenager (?) girl. With some kind of school uniform on her, she did not look that different from any middle school girl in Japan. It was probably that the girl was also well-educated, based on her sitting stance. She had a book half-opened on the table on her left... Studying?

It did not really matter, she was a threat, a hostile, and therefore, I would have to take her down. Quietly disable the handcuff behind my back with the secret technique of the Commando, I silently breathed out upon hearing a faint 'click'. The handcuff had been disabled beautifully and the guard (?) in front of you was still oblivious to it. Hell, was she even working now? She should be watching over me and Ichika, not... doing whatever she was doing at the moment. Though it was not her most major fault - she was showing me her back. For a Commando, trainee or not, it was practically the invitation for a kill.

Grinning savagely, I felt the blood thirst rising inside me. Someone would be seriously hurt by nightfall. Slowly putting down the opened handcuff, I quietly stood up without using any support. It hurted a bit, my knees slightly trembled for being asked to work after a long time of being lazy. Well, two hours and being knocked out by crashing my head could do that... But I was a Commando, I was used to and was expect to push myself over the limit. I had already marched under the blazing sun of the summer with a heavy backpack and empty stomach, I had already crawled under the barb wire and into the mud to retrieve a suitcase, I had already even sneaked in girls' bathroom to take out a peeper and get away unnoticed. Compared to those job, this was just nothing.

Closing the eyes and taking a deep breath, I steeled myself. There was no going back after this... These people, whoever they were, had captured/kidnapped Ichika and me, presumably with hostile intentions (the kind-of-old room without any windows and the handcuff fortified the theory). The best option I had was to fight my way out with the stealth and efficient honed by months of training.

Luckily (or not so luckily), I had passed the test of Escaping during the training. The instructors were more brutal and efficient than these people for sure. They were also very efficient in the job, teaching me how to question and pierce different events together.

How did those people find out about the route to the Academy? How did they have military-grade weapons, namely a RPG? Granted, the smoke and flash suggested that it was an old model, but the point stood. Someone, or a few someones, was aiming to harm me and my friend. And in order to find out who, I needed intel, the solid type. But I was not exactly trained for... extracting information via enhanced interrogation techniques (a mouthful way to say "torture"), I was trained to resist it.

No, it was probably better to just knock them out. If they were still alive, they could talk. Besides, I had seen enough death already, hence I really did not want to see any more. In addition, the guard they stationed in this room might just be a grunt or simply an un-informed party. She may have no idea about the whole law-breaking stuff... Probably...

Taking out the chick here would be fairly easy. What a pity. She looked... fairly cute, from the behind at least. An uniform-like suit with dark green skirt and dark green blazer, her hair was carefully bundled with a purple hair clip. The body figure of this woman suggested she was not older than me by a large degree, hell, she could be even younger. I took a glance over her shoulder... Yep, she was doing Physics homework. Her hand writing is neat and her solutions seemed right. Studious and smart, probably cute, too bad that she was in the same lot as your kidnappers.

Now, contrary to what people thought, snapping a neck was very hard. It takes superior strength, well-trained techniques and hard-earn experience, and I had virtually none of those. However, I did not plan to kill this teenager... yet. Therefore, I just chopped down with my right (and "natural") hand, knocking the poor girl out instantly. No sound, no struggle. Good. I turned her body over and gazed over her face... Yeah, she was quite cute, 16 at most. Too innocent to get stuck in a kidnapping operation. Or not. I had already seen worse before...

Bloody women...

A quick search on her body revealed a key for the handcuff, a handkerchief, another key-card for a room with the number "112" on it and a phone. Nothing much. I tried to check the phone but disappointed immediately, there is no signal here. Bad reception perhaps? The, I tried the (integrated) computer on me left arm – also no signal. No Wifi, no cell phone and even no connection to satellite. It meant that I was being cut off from the outside world, more reasons for me to get out of here and call in reinforcement, or rescue, for that matter.

In addition, her phone was also password locked, meaning that I could not use it for any purpose other than grabbing it for intel. I could use the computer on your left arm to hack it, but it took too much time. And even if you had time, I would be able to read what was inside. I was taught to speak and listen to Japanese in the crash course, not to write and to read it.

Going to the table next to the door, I picked up my weapons and inspected them. The dagger, made from black and non-reflective material, was still sharp and deadly. The handgun, a trusty pistol, a boring but practical weapon, was virtually untouched... What? Untouched? I quickly stropped it down for a check. Nothing seemed out of ordinary, everything was where and how it should be. The ammunition was left right next to it. Three clips, thirty rounds in total. Less than what I want but hopefully more than what I needed. I would have to make every shot count. It should not be too hard with my training and experience.

Everything was ready for a go then. I reloaded the gun, put the spare mags in the pocket and went toward Ichika, who was still knocked out. There was still pulse on his vein, so it was not too bad. The usual trick of shaking and slapping did the trick quickly after that, the boy sprang up and instantly got restrained by the handcuff. His eyes darted from side to side, drowned in fear and fright, before settling on you. He spoke in a slightly-accented English:

"Nguyen-kun, what happens? Where are we? And who is that girl?"

I just chuckled while opening his handcuff. Ah, it felt good when someone had the answer and ready to share it

"Short version, buddy... We are kidnapped. No idea where. But probably somewhere off-the-grid in Japan. I check the time, we have been knocked out for roughly two hours. For the woman, she is a guard."

" You..."

"Make her sleep. I have my reasons to keep her alive. And can we keep speaking English? My Japanese is... very weak. I can only... greet you like morning."

"... OK. My English is acceptable too, at least. Do you want me to teach you some Japanese when we get out of here?"

"Aye, seem like a good idea, but let's get out of here first."

"Yes... but what about her?"

I shifted my glance, following the eye of the fellow, who was watching the teenager I took down a while ago. It seemed like he wanted to know what my plans were regarding her. Well, for starter, I could not just drag her out of here – it would be too slow and dangerous, plus, she was a hostile. In addition, I was not some kind of anime hero who tried to save every girl he met and became completely clueless about his harem. No, I was a soldier, baptized and forged in war, I was trained to think logical and pragmatic. The best option was to leave her here. Secure, chained and silenced of course.

Picking up the two handcuffs, I walked toward the girl and activated my magic. Linking a leg of her to the chair and a hand to the table which was bolted to the ground, I made sure that she could not escape without scratching herself greatly. Last but not least, her pink handkerchief was stuffed into her mouth, just enough to make her uncomfortable yet keep her able to breathe in the same time.

"Done. Now, she's unharmed, she can't call for help or alert anyone about our escape. It's the best option I can think of right now. The other is to kill her if you want to ask, no loose end."

"Wh..."

"I'm a soldier Ichika, and I've seen some serious shit. Hell, if this is an active war zone, I had already shot her, immediately I might add. The risk against our safety would be minimised then. The only thing stops me from doing so this time is that keeping her alive may be more beneficial. And no, you may not want to know about how."

I just cut off his question because I knew what he was about to ask. It would save some time in the long run if I could be honest with myself. At least that guy seemed understanding, he just nodded at my words, not the empty-idea nod, but a grim nod of acceptance. It almost looked like he knew what I was talking about. Damn, what had this guy gone through, really?

For a final time, I took stock of the room. It was completely void of any "personal" artifact, which was understandable, given the situation here. The room looked old, giving me the appearance of an old house. However, the vibe was not exactly right. It was more akin to an empty safe house, may be, regular or occasional cleaning but no constant residency... The main issue was my gut feeling about this room here. Something was wrong… But I had no idea which.

Still, staying inside the room would do nothing, I had to get out and scout the area, stealthily, of course. It was highly likely that this building was swarmed with hostile, one wrong move and you would have to face a serious tide. In that case, I simply did not have enough ammunition to deal with the trouble, especially when I still followed the code of _Final bullet_.

Huh? My eyes just picked up something. It was a package in grey cloth. Thanks to a combination of low lights, shadows and matching colour, I did not spot it until now. Damn, it was almost shameful to admit it, but I may have to re-join a spotter course… Anyhow, I could think about that later, there was more pressing matter now.

The package. It was a thin, long, streamline one. Puzzled, I approached it and carefully unpacked the warping. What I saw was a curved blade, I thought the name for it was…

"An _uchiganata_?"

Well... I thought it was a katana. But to be fair, the only Japanese sword you know off was katana. May be I should brush up my knowledge on this front, it never hurted to be knowledgeable. Turning back toward Ichika, I asked him with the raised eyebrows:

"You know of this sword?"

"Yes, my... _onee-san_... I mean my older sister and I learn how to wield it in a dojo. You know what a dojo is, right?"

"A martial art training class, school or centre?"

"Something like that."

I watched the sword and judged it carefully. It was quite heavy, about two kilograms, and its length was about one meter, just like a sword would be. I had no talent with sword whatsoever. The age of sword has already passed and gotten replaced by the guns, that was my belief and the reason why I preferred firearms over blade. As a result, I became more proficient with guns, and dagger was the only type of blade that I used for melee fight (which rarely happened). Meanwhile, Ichika just told me that he has been learning how to wield it. Combined with my gut feeling, he may actually _wield_ it before - as in use it and chop his enemies into pieces.

"Ichika, take this sword for self-defence, and pray you don't have to use it. Stay behind me, go where I go and do as I tell. Clear?"

"... Understood."

I grimaced, yeah, the mood of this boy seems... subdued somehow. He must have been through something like this in the past - but I would check it later. Now it was time to get the hell out here.

The door was a small trouble. It did not use hinges to "flap" open like the normal doors but sliding to the sides to do so. Quite interesting, actually. And did not "traditional" Japanese door use the same theory?

Open a small gap on the door, I peeked out and glanced in all direction. What I saw... It baffled me. Instead of shabby-looking wall and some defections here and there, I saw _metal clad_ wall, like the ones used in freaking high-tech facility. On the left was a wall, a dead-end with a small ventilation hole about 2m high. It was too small to fit in, but it would provide some kind of "overwatch" or "peephole" if need. On the right was a corner turning left. There was nothing for distinction, only grey metal-looking wall. Directly in front of the door was another ventilation shaft. This one was at ground level, fairly small but still enough to move in while crouching.

I watched everywhere again - no visible proof of any cameras. Really? What kind of impeccable had the bright idea to _not_ supervising their hostages? But nah, I was not here to question enemy's intelligence. I was here because I was kidnapped, and now was the time to sneak out. Hell or high water, I would see the job finished today.

No matter what happened.


	3. Chapter 3: The raging first day 2

**Thank you a lot for your support. Just two chapters and I have already attracted some favorites and follows. It is... nice to see some FFN members still having interest in the Anime/Manga section here.**

 **Still, I wonder if you guys can leave some reviews here or to join in with the quest? It would be very assuring for me as the author. Thank you for your support.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The raging first day (second part)**

* * *

I took everything with me, the gun, the dagger, the "key card" (for whatever room it is) and the phone (for future intel mining). It never hurt to be prepared, the first two for protection and the last for whatever may arise. Ichika was right behind me with the newly-acquired uchinagata held firmly in his hand. I took point, standing right at the door with a hand on the handle. I was ready for whatever standing on the other side. Glancing back, Ichika quickly assured me with his own silent nod.

Time to go. There would be no time for bull shit, there was only mission – Victory or death. The ventilation hole could provide me and Ichika a great cover of stealth. However, it could also be problematic – the boy was not trained in infiltration for example. While you had little with wingling inside a small tunnel, Ichika definitely had some reserves about that, which meant it would bite back in the worst time possible.

Therefore, to the right it was.

Slide the door open, I quickly thrusted out the gun and pointed the barrel to the sides, scanning the view. If there was any threat, I could response in time. Sure, it would mean going loud and attracting attention, but I would be able to escape alive. Luckily, there was no one there, giving me a certain degree of stealth. Stepping out, I hugged the wall with my gun, using it as a shield and cover when needed. There were no visible cameras or motion detectors, meaning that my stealth was still maintained… Well, no need to temp Murphy in this case. I still preferred getting out _unnoticed_ as dictated by Commando doctrine.

Scan the hallway ahead again, I moved forward, checking every corner and every door carefully. The habit had already been drill into my muscle reflex, almost forcefully and painfully – actually, it was painful and bloody experience, thanks to war and training. An ambush from an unseen angle was always a credible threat, capable of taking anyone's life in an instant. In such cases, a lone enemy could hide much better than a group of well-armed hostile, and therefore, able to cause disproportionate damage.

It still took a while to navigate though. With only grey walls around and closed doors lining up on both sides, it was quite easy to get lost in my own mind a few times. Luckily, I was still able to double back whenever I lost my way or met up with a dead end.

On the bright side, there were not many people in here. Heck, I only crossed path with them once. A group of females, five or six of them. And by their appearance, it seemed that they were administration employees of sort with smart business suits: black short skirts with high heels. They were quite beautiful too, long and slim legs, moderate bust along with a smart and vicious looking – just like my type.

Too bad, they were my potential enemy – and I had already shot a hot naked girl before. Shooting them now, or when they showed their hostility, was not that much of a problem. Plus, I was hiding behind a couch of sort, and with the view being obscured, the time I spent to enjoy their figures was much shorter than the time I considering options to kill them.

Hmm...

Once the group had already departed, I quickly moved on while pulling Ichika with me. It seemed that he was still able to keep it together, not crying out loud or sobbing. His pschye may not be the same, but it was enough for the moment. Getting out of here alive and in one piece was the top priority, not being nice or good.

A few more minutes of walking, and things turned to the worse. I met the second group of local residents. Of course, saying "meet" would be a stretch, "hearing" would be a better description. Their sounds of chattering were just over the corner, three seconds or less. I glanced around, trying to find a place to hide – too bad, the hallway was void of features. There was simply no place to hide behind.

There was no way to hide, there was no way to run. Therefore, there was only one option left, which was to fight. If it led to my death, so be it.

Inhaling a deep breath, I calmed my nerve down, using the brief moment to asset the situation. There was a small possibility that not everyone here was in league with my kidnappers – whoever they were. If that was the case, pointing guns and blades at them would be counter-productive at best. However, if they were hostile, then putting the weapons away was synonym to suicidal and stupidity.

Therefore, the best solution I had in less than three seconds was to hide my weapons behind my back. Of course, to gain the upper hand, I also walked briskly forward, ready to strike at the moment of notice. The puzzled complex structure should allow me to buy a few moments before being spotted. Or at least, that was what I hope.

It did not take long for the source of the sound entering my view. The quickly showed themselves over the corner prior to the one I was hiding in. Another group of women, it was not surprising. The _interesting_ part, however, was that they were wearing exotic clothes. Think Dominatrix leather suits. All three of them were highly revealing, sexy and carrying with them a very threatening mood. Many men would be aroused seeing that, despite carry little to none M-blood, or masochist tendency.

Too bad for them, I was hardened against such temptation. In addition, I was still logging them as "hostile", making their sexual appearance meaningless.

They then caught your eyes, or to be more precise, they were watching you stepping out of your corner. The good news was that they were not really surprise or spooked up by your appearance. The bad news was that they were bitches. As in stupid, horny and suicidal dominatrix bitches. The woman in the middle sneered, contempt was clearly shown in her voice:

"Hey, you male there. Kneel down and kiss my shoes."

Yeah, just like Special force manual instruction: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. On the one hand, she was not speaking in Japanese, saving me from the trouble of using the unreliable translator or the bulky translating device. On the other hand, they were highly likely to be in league or at least being sympathy with my kidnappers now.

Not to mention, their appearances opened a lot more new questions: Caucasian appearance, up to mid-30 in age. No clear heritage in national and such. International crime group, perhaps

Back to their filthy demand, a lesser or a normal male would have to bowed down, suppressed by their dominant aura. But since when I was normal, really? Nearly a hundred confirmed kills in cold blood within just a single month… I was a war veteran, a survivor, an IS pilot, and above all, a Commando trainee. Never bow, never bend knees and never be broken.

They had to try much harder.

"If I kneeled and kissed your shoes, would all three of you get on your knees and give me a blow job?"

The best way to give them a middle finger in this scenario. Not to mention the amount of hentai and porn I had been watching – just say that there were many things that a male teenager could dream and never spoke of. Normally, they would keep those fantasies in their brains, but for a hostile setting like this, bringing out some sexual stuff may be a good counter to those dominatrix bitches.

Sure, that was a light respond, for me obviously, and not for them. All three women were stunned, watching me with puzzlement and shock. Well, it did not take them long to finally returned to the pissed off mode.

"You... You insolent MALE beast!? You... How dare you..."

"Yes, I dare."

"Hang on, you look familiar, aren't you the chewing toy the Lady picked up this morning."

Her friend on the left finally nailed it, surprising everyone in the area. Well. Busted. At least I had the confirmation that they were in league with my kidnappers. Therefore, it was safe to assume they had hostile intention.

Time to rock and roll then.

Dashing forward, I sped up, gunning for a series of take-outs. First, my left arm sprung out, slamming the dagger hilt into the side, something soft and squeezy was felt when the handle made contact. Then, my right hand followed up with a pistol whip in her nose. The woman was dazed for a moment, her eyes were starting to give out, losing focus.

One down.

Not wasting a single second, I instantly turned to the right, attacking the queen bee with a pistol hit to her temple. The attack was followed with a hard left hook, slamming at her jaw. In the same time, however, the last girl, seemingly the most "competent" out of all three, brought her wrist-mounted datapad up, planning to call in some reinforcement. However, her attempt was pathetically slow and inefficient. Ichika had already jumped out from behind your back, swinging his still-sheathed blade down on her forehead. The girl was then promptly removed from combat capability.

In less than ten seconds, all three women were neutralized, falling to the ground. While there was no blood sprouting out, it was still worthwhile to check for their pulse. After all, dead men told no tales – and I was in dire need of intelligence materials here. Luckily, all three had their veins pulsing. Weak, but the value was still in the acceptable level of someone getting knocked out heavily.

Then, I searched their bodies carefully, checking to see if there was anything worthwhile. And yes, I also checked their sensitive areas. Their bosoms and their busts were checked over first, actually. Why? Because those were the most critical positions, who knew what kind of traps they could set up there?

And actually…. They did. One of them had a pair of silicon pads, increasing her bust size. I had no idea if I should laugh or cry then. At least the search over their bodies had returned fruitful. A great deal of loot was found and picked up. An unlocked and unprotected tablet runs on English-based OS with some apps/folders specifically say "Complex map", three more phones, one set of wrist band communication and an infra-red flashlight.

That was, of course, not to mention some junks in their handbags. With sufficient time, I could probably build something like an explosive charge or sleeping pills from those make-up tools. A pity that I had not been trained in that regard… Nevertheless, all of them increased my chance to escape greatly.

Checking the map application, I could not hold back a snort. It seemed that I had been over-worried here. The bitches here were extremely stupid. Why? They was opening the app on their data-pad, which was also equipped with a real time location system, or an indoor navigation system. With this, getting lost in the complex was virtually impossible now. The more interesting part was that the pad was not locked or protected by any password, allowing me to exploit the hell out of it.

Dear Murphy, I, a mortal soldier, humbly thanked you.

Well, they were lazy and incompetent, and therefore, they would have to pay for that. But that was neither here nor now. More pressing matters were at hand. For example, contacting the police and rescue…

And... right. Still, there was no connection. I could not access to the Internet here. No Wifi, no phone signal and even no satellite coverage. Sure, I noticed the Internet app, but the problem was that the data-pad told me that my ranking was insufficient to use it… Well, look like the bitches I took down were just small fishes here.

Murphy, I retracted what I said earlier.

Back to the main task, it was only then that I notice a door on my left. It would open to an area between the two corners. With a Japanese line on it, it should have some kind of meaning there. The door was not equipped with any kind of fancy high-tech lock, but it was actually covered by an old system of "key and lock". The ones with the turning key. They were very old now…

I could probably use the room to stash the bodies, providing that there was enough room there, or the room was fit to do so. The disappearance of the three women would be noticed soon, and hiding their unconscious bodies away would buy me at least a bit more time to think up some kinds of tactics.

But first, let's make sure the room was fit to do the job.

"Orimura-kun. They are all alive, don't worry, just knocked out. Back up in... thirty minutes, I guess... And what does that sign say?"

I turned back, staring at the Japanese boy, who was still a bit shaken with his own actions. Well, I should probably talk with him after this debacle. There was no shame with hurting others to protect the ones important.

"Eh... I don't know what it means in English... Something about where you keep the things you use the clean?"

Good.

"Janitor? Hmm. Good. Times for some magic. _Now you see the bodies..._ "

I then took out the pins hidden in my sleeves, the very ones I used to pick the handcuff earlier. The lock, being the old fashion style, was quickly disabled. Contrary to what many lock manufacturers said, the army always knew how to disable one. The theory was simple and straight-forward, the last part was just practice and practice. Finally, I was able to pick it up and open the door.

The room was pretty spacious for a janitor room, must be two meters in width and three-point-five in depth. There was also enough space to put all three knocked out bitches in there, and then some. I just had to picked them up and threw them in the room. Finally, the last job was just to put the lock in. Of course, I did not really lock it – just piercing the lock's arm in was enough. Just in case I had to bring them out after I got free, of course.

Grinning at the mess, or rather the lack of them, at the fresh battle scene, I spoke to myself:

"... Now you don't."

Without turning back, I was very aware that Ichika was staring at me. May be he was surprised at your non-chalant attitude in fighting. After all, not many people could knock out two consecutive mature females in less than ten seconds, both of them were at least taller than me by a head, then unlock a door in less than thirty seconds before throwing three bodies in there. Well, he should get used to that. Those were just standard every-day jobs for a Commando, or a Special force operator, really.

Sure, SF was not a dime a dozen, or normal, or mundane. But, since when I belonged in that group? Besides, both he and me were students of Infinite Stratos Academy, where we would be taught how to use Tactical Weapon of Mass Destruction, or _magik_ weapons. "Common" was definitely not a word I would use to describe it.

I just shrugged of the feeling. It was not really important at the moment. I just simply led Ichika forward to the door, attempting an escape. The rate was increased much higher thanks to the map. We were also able to avoid a few unwanted meet-up and some redundant scouting. However, our plan of heading to the maid door went kaput soon enough. The route had been blockaded by a force too strong for a frontal assault. The position was after the staircase leading downstairs.

Peaking down, you took an observation over their appearance. Enemy hostile. Guards. Two. Armed with military grade tools. Assault rifles and bullet-proof vests. Black business blazers are worn on the outside. No visible emblem or insignia. Female figure. Danger rating: 6.5/10, slightly more dangerous than a regular soldier, but slightly less than an elite one. And probably on par with me at the moment - that being said, if I was able to unleash the full might and hold nothing back, my rating would be around 8 or 8.5.

My brain, after taking in the view, ordered my body to move back and judge the tactical situation. The first thing it judged was the corners after the stairs, providing a very brief and short cover if you wanted. On the left of approaching vector would be that duo of guards, on the right was a row of rooms, closed doors. The funny part was that all doors began with a prefix of number "1", the same as the card you picked up in the first room.

The problem was that the area here was an intersection. On the left was the guard pair, the unknown rooms on the right and road to freedom of straight ahead. Three routes, three choices. All of them had risks, high risks to be précised.

When I was still considering my option and pulling down the curious and agitated Ichika, my ears picked up some sound from the left, same direction as the guard. Peeking my eyes out, I noticed that it was not coming from any door, but the door that was being guarded by the two women. It meant that whatever in there, it was valuable and important.

Probably worth stealing or destroying.

Then, a very _blessed_ women with sexy dress stepped out of the room. While Ichika was busy staring at her daring dress's cut and slim legs, I was busy observing her body language and face features. Sure, my skills were crapped compared to the spies, but it was still more productive than watching her arse.

And yes, I was able to notice one thing, she was fuming, angry and mad for some reasons. May be it was something to do with whatever in the room? Potentially.

The lady then barked out some orders to the guards, but too bad, it was in Japanese, making your ability to deduct the situation hampered greatly. However, describing it as "barking" may not be entirely correct, "screaming" would be probably a better choice. Then, the woman stormed toward the staircase, in _my direction_.

Still shrouding myself in darkness, I kept my features hidden behind natural camouflage, a.k.a. a potted plant. Ignoring the increasingly higher heart beats, I readied my blade, ready for the fight. My body tensed up when the footsteps draw closer, I was ready to slam the dagger into her body, silencing her to protect the stealth.

Luckily, she did not even spare a glance to the side, keeping your stealth protected. She just kept walking straight forward into the row of room. When she walked pass me, my nose picked up something strange, a very faint scent from the women. It was the smell of blood and death. My brain was flooded with possibilities. With my rich experience in the business, it was not that hard to link her to the less savory parts of society. The problem was that I did not see anything to link her with combat or war, which meant that she was not combat personnel.

What kind of person not being in combat but having a lot of blood scent? Mafia, blood traders, traffickers… And I really hated this already. There were too many things going downhill here. Situation was getting complicated by the minutes, and I just hoped I did not get involved in some kind of international conspiracy here.

My eyes kept watch on the woman, who was disappearing behind a closed door. It seemed that a key card was used to open the door, probably happenstance. But it was a door with a prefix of "1" in its number. In fact, its number was "114", right next to the room of "112", of which I had the key card. It was starting not to look like a coincident, it was a trend here, a series of hostile actions, if I could dare to say so.

Last but not least, the woman was smiling wickedly before stepping in the room. The combination of everything made me believe that I should dig in here to see what was going on. Worst case scenario, I could stop a human trafficking or a drug deal. Best case scenario, that woman was just extremely quirky in terms of personality.

On my left, the two guards had already turned "relax" in their stance. It appeared that they were not in any professional armed forces. Private military contractors at best, but the moment the "big boss" disappeared in her room, they instantly let their guard down and started chatting animatedly to each other. It seemed that they had high faith on their own external security. After all, it seemed that they did not factor in any kind of threat, base on their tone at least. It was hard to know when they keep speaking in Japanese, a language I barely understood.

Luckily, I had some support here. Singalling Ichika to come closer, I whispered into his ears, asking him to gist and translate the conversations of the two women. The boy nodded, then his eyes started to widen just a few seconds later, as if he had picked up something critical here, or something terrible. I did not really want to bet on that…

"What did they just said?"

"Something about making sure a girl being kept here for a load of money, as ransom. Yes, there is another girl kidnapped here... Nguyen-kun, we must save her! Please!"

I cursed in my own mind. The situation was deteriorating really fast.

Oh, great, Lord Murphy... Fuck you Tzeentch...

I was in a really tight spot here. No matter what my intentions was, I still had to remove the two guards. There was simply no flanking routes or blind spots I could use or utilize, which meant a frontal assault. Tricking or blinding them was possible, but they required time to prepare and set up, and time was a luxury that I could not afford here.

Fuck.

There was no time to waste here. If what Ichika said was correct (which was highly likely), then the two of us were not the only ones kidnapped here. Therefore, it would be probably "right" to rescue her to, one for the spirit, two for the honour, and three to spite in the faces of your kidnapper. After all, rescuing hostages was also a part of my training, thanks to being a Commando. Guys like me were sent in when the stakes were just too high for a regular and standard force. For more example, the most famous one would be the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1979.

In addition, busting out a fellow kidnapped here would be a great plus in the eyes of the public. Many of them disliked (i.e. hated) me for being able to control the IS, but if the fucker (i.e. me) able to rescue a hostage while being kidnapped himself? It would be some great PR boon, which would give you some breathing room after this.

So, first stop, taking down the two guards. After installing the suppressor on, I raised my gun up, aiming carefully for a quick and accurate shot. Killing them out right was definitely out of the question, they were better alive than dead. In addition, killing a bunch of women on my first day to Japan would be a grave insult on their sovereignty. Sure, they kidnapped me and Ichika, but the public may not even care about it. All they knew was that me would shoot someone dead, the reason why was irrelevant.

Those people should check on my profile, really. It had a lot of black ink, in fact, other than the basic information, the briefest section possible, the rest was just black ink. _Wonder why exactly_.

They would probably a killer, which was justified because I was a killer. I found neither remorse nor pride in that. What done was done, there was no way around it. In fact, if situation was the same, I would do the same again – there was nothing wrong with staining my hands to protect and to avenge.

I was thinking too far already here. I had to re-focus on the matter at hand.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled it, calming down the beating of my heart. Then, I squeezed the trigger twice, aiming for the mid-calf section of the first female guard. Before she was able to cry out in pain, I had already moved to her colleague and opened fire again. Normally, opening fire in enclosed environment like this was risky with the banging sound, suppressor on or not. However, the one I attached on the handgun was extremely high-tech, it traded of range and power for stealth and lethality at close range.

Therefore, all I heard was a sound barely louder than a clap. The guards let out a small cry due to surprise and shock. Their pain would kick in within a few seconds, those wimpering would turn into scream, and with that, my element of stealth would disappear. Been there, done that – it ended with me being chased by an armoured car.

Waiting no time, I rushed out of my corner and struck them down. Hit the iron when it is still hot. Something liked that. Kicking in the heads was a quick and efficient way to shut them down. However, I was not fast enough, the guards were still able to let out a scream of anguish and surprise before being knocked out. At least their heads collided with my boots heavily, almost making a "clank" sound.

It definitely would leave some marks behind, and the two guards would have a terrible headache in the morning. Hope that their doctors could ease down on the bright lights and the loud noises.

The hallway quickly returned to its original state of silence, or rather, uneasy silence. Wasting no time, I kneel down and checked the bodies. However, this time, other than the weapons and the bullet-proof vests, there was nothing worth of mention. Heck, even the guns had no ammunition in them, live and lethal ammunition, at least. All magazines were filled with blank ammunition, as if they were used to scare off any hostiles and not to kill them outright.

It was as if the employees of the gang believed that no one would come here and knocking on the door. Though the reason why…. I had no idea. A few theories appeared in my head, but I shot them down instantly, there was simply no proof to prove the connection, and they were all too depressing.

Still, even when I had already focused on the task at hand, there was a trouble remained. How could I effectively fight my way out of here? The odds were slowly staking against me with little ammunition left and the element of surprise and stealth being deteriorated. At least, I had already seen worse before. Being a militia, I fought a losing battle to delay the enemy's advance. Being a militia, I commandeered an IS while being half-blind, amputated, choked, and yet I still won. Being a militia, I accepted the offer to be trained as a Commando in a hellish environment, and I became their _youngest_ trainee within a century.

I had definitely already seen worse then.

I took a glance at the door being guarded by the two women before signaling Ichika to come closer. Having him close by was more beneficial. If there was really a girl being kidnapped here, she would be in a heavy state of distress. And because we were staying in Japan, it would be likely that she was a Japanese, which meant her command of English would be low. Therefore, having a Japanese dude with me would be much more beneficial, skipping over the language barrier with little trouble.

However, I forgot a fact: Ichika was a pacifist, not a hardened man. He hissed the moment he arrived at the scene:

"What?! You shoot them?"

"Yes, I shot them, what do you expect?"

"Can't you find another solution?"

"No, I have none. And if you are wondering, they are not dead. And this is 'soft' injury. My bullets went straight through their calves, they are only bleeding now. A simple patching up can ease down their pains, and a few days in hospital will be more than enough to bring them back to full health. And yes, I've been there, I've done that so I know what I'm talking about, no, you don't want to know the details. Trust me."

At least he was able to take in that with little trouble. With the back secured, I was finally able to deal with the last trouble, figuring out who was being kept here. Picking up the key card, I swiped the door open with my left hand while keeping the gun raised with my right hand. The electronic lock then opened up, and I put my gun through the gap, scanning the sight inside, and there, I saw...

I saw a girl, teenaged girl. She had a small built, equivalent to a fourteen or fifteen child at best, though her bust seemed to a bit too mature for that. So… sixteen probably? Her skin was pale with little tan or any kind of freckles. A pair of crimson red eyes laid under a pale blue hair, almost aqua in color. And above her nose was a pair of brim-less glasses, somehow making her looked extremely smart… On her head were two triangular hairpins on both sides of her head, somehow "balance out" with the glasses.

The most outstanding feature about her, however, was her expression. Absolutely calm and stoic, I could not see any trace of emotion on her face. Though it was likely due to her active emotional suppression, I was too well-aware with the practice. I did that every single time I pulled the trigger – it helped clearing out the mind to stay focus on the fight. Very effective, extremely helpful.

"Clear!"

I yelled out a report after checking all corner of the room, but my sight quickly returned to the girl after that. After all, she was also wearing an uniform set of the IS Academy. In other words, she would be a schoolmate of ours. Her suit was modified a bit, but the main features were still there, enough to point out that she was still a student like you two.

Interesting, but also problematic. At least it did not look like that she would cause any trouble soon.

Therefore, I decided to spend some time to observe the room. Just like the one used to keep me and Ichika, the room here also gave off a vibe of "old room". It had grey and enclosed walls with no window, further increasing the feeling about an old-abandoned room. Removing the bright light overhead and I could make this room look exactly like a cell in jail. Ichika was right behind you, complaining about the smell.

You just told him to help you carrying the two female guards inside. Sure, it would leave a trail behind, but at least it was better than having the bodies being seen. It could buy me a few more minutes. While a few minutes sounded short, they could be critical in deciding whether an operation was a success or not. Commando experience said so.

The two unconscious guards were popped up in the corner. I wondered if I should deal with them, just to finish the job. The blue-haired girl was still observing me, but I was unable to decipher anything in her gaze. Ichika was kneeling down in a corner, trying to find a way to help the downed guards.

Meh, this would be quite stupid, but it worked, and I was expected to be able to do so. Stripping of my shirt, I startled the girl, who was probably trying not to stare in your muscles, and Ichika, who was watching you with puzzles in his eyes. They were surprised, of course, but whether due to me taking off the shirt or the undersuit being worn under the shirt was another question. Picking up the dagger, I cut the shirt into a few parts, then I used them as make-shift bandages to take care of the females.

The girl was watching me, after all. Giving off the vibe of someone nice or benevolent was much better than being a dick or evil. First impression and all that jazz – she was cute, that was why. Thanks to the training I had, it did not take me long to stop blood oozing out from their wounds. Not the perfect solution, but it would work for a while.

At least, it worked for me, not sure about Ichika and the girl though.

"Why do you do that?"

It was the unknown girl. Luckily enough, she asked me in English with a sweet melody voice… but it was laced with something else. Her tone was light and a bit weak too, as if she was too tired to speak loudly. I was unable to decipher it precisely, my training consisted of infiltration and blowing shit up, not sweet-talking the girls.

"Hmm... Can you clarify?"

"... It's not worth my time and strength..."

She said the last part in a very small voice. Almost a whisper. Wonder why... But for some reason, I was highly intrigued by this girl. She would be a fearsome soldier, given her chance to be trained and tempered

"Well, looks like you are after my own style too. I'm lazy too, so I'll keep this short. I had to shoot them non-lethally in order to create a window for a non-lethal take down. I bandaged them because it would be more beneficial after we getting out of here. And I hastily cleaned the room because it would be more beneficial to your mind than a stream of blood. Is that suffice for your?"

"... Yes."

"Alrighty. And... do you mind if I ask what your name is?"

"... Sarashiki."

I realized that name. And it brought more dark omens than good luck charm. One, there was a former Russian Spetnaz operator of Alpha Group beared that name after marriage. Rumours said that his call sign was Stalinium – One. In addition, there was a major Corporation, major in IS and Engineering, had the same name. Sarashiki Corporation, a Japanese corporation… OH. Fuck. That was a solid reason to kidnap her.

"You are correct."

Three short words startled me. What? Did she just really read my thought?

"No. Deduction."

F-

"And no swearing please."

I had no idea how and why, but I started grinning after that. It was insane, but then, there was nothing here "sane" as it was.

"Well done, lady. Well done. You are extremely brilliant and bright, one of the best I have ever met. And that is even considering my own intelligence and academic achievements. My hunch tells me that you can surpass almost everyone in your family in no time soon. My gut has rarely been wrong, trust me."

OK, that went a bit different from what I anticipated. There was a visible change in her attitude. Instead of being a cold and stoic princess (where does the last word come from?), she opened her eyes widely and her mouth agape. Huh? I just told her my thought! And it is practically the truth!

May be the truth of someone being excited and impressed, but the truth nonetheless.

Too bad, I had little time to continue talking with her. The situation was still developing and it was not finished yet. I still had the room numbered "112" to check out, just to see if I could salvage anything from there. However, if I left, the room would be void with zero protection… So the best solution was to lock down the door and only to open it when the code was correct.

I decided to set up a three-step verification code with Ichika. Nothing too complicated and serious, just simple words being linked together, but one had to be "in the group" to know that. Classic trick, but it worked beautifully every time.

To further guarantee the survival chance of the two teenagers, I forced them to wear the bullet-proof vests. They seemed to be a bit hesitated first, but Ichika stopped complaining the moment I describe the damage done to human body with a single bullet. He strapped in nicely with the vest hugged around his body. The Sarashiki girl, on the other hand, was a lot more reluctant. It was as if she did not even care about her freedom or survival anymore.

Putting a hand over her shoulder, I noticed her visible effort to shrug it off. However, my grip was much stronger than her shaking, and I was able to force her to look into my eyes:

"I am expendable, Miss Sarashiki, but you are not. I am a soldier, I fight so that others can live, I fight so that others can be their best and fulfill your dream. So please, put that armor on, don't let my sacrifice be in vain."

She seems shaken at that for some reason. And she asked you with clear struggle and hesitation in her voice:

"Are… Are you ready to sacrifice your life to get me out of here? Really?"

"Let me quote it from your father: Any place, Any time. And yes, my answer is yes. So, please, can you put the vest on?"

She gave in finally, securing the vest on her. However, she needed my help with that, it took a while, but the vest was finally put on her body.

Bidding the temporary goodbye with the two teenagers, I stepped out of the room with my dagger and the handgun. The hallway was still clear, void of everything. It meant the element of stealth was still in place, but I had to assume that it was breaking down. Better to be prepared and not need it, rather than needing it and to be caught unprepared.

The keycard came in pretty handy, allowing me in without a single hitch. The interior of the room was… quite interesting to say the least. It was quite spacious, around 15 meter square, with a comfy-looking bed in the corner and surrounded by cream-coloured walls. On the bed was a set of pink duvet and blanket, which looked really out of place for a complex like this one. There was also a big purple Teddy Bear there, which was also the most colorful item in the room. Hanging down from the ceiling were a few yellow pots with some kind of flowers inside.

A study table with an attached bookshelf and a column of cabins stayed in the corner. On the surface was a computer with screen saver mode on (hmm... physical computer monitor and a "holo" keyboard and mouse...). Scanning around the room (after closing the door, of course), I saw no visible camera, which was a huge relief.

Approaching the desk, I tried touching a key on it... And I was surprised instantly. Wow, the computer was not protected by any "screen lock" or password. A surge of joy rose in my gut, it meant that I could find out who was messing with me. In addition, there was connection to the Internet here, allowing me to finally call for reinforcement!

Yes! Finally!

But before that, I needed to check over the room personally. The process revealed quite a few more things about it. A half-wall separated the "main" section with the area behind it, an attached toilet and bathroom, another door leads to a fairly small kitchen (with a small fridge). Some eaten noodle cups were seen in the waste bin with some snack packages. In the kitchen, there was also another ventilation vent hidden behind the fridge. It looked... significantly larger than the ones in front of my jail room earlier. I could move inside it while crouching down. And for some reason, I had a suspicion that it could help me to reach the room next door, into the room of the "boss" woman.

In short, this "apartment" here was quite alike to a student's studio. Quite self-sufficient and independent in many senses. That also explained something like a backpack being thrown on the bed and some papers littered on the ground. In addition, the desk was also swarmed in all kind of note papers, notebooks and books - and to be honest, I was more concerned with the bag putting dirt on the bed than the mess on the table.

Because my study room looked precisely the same.

Messy, organised chaos (to me at least) and a gold mine for any competent intelligence and/or spec-op soldier (providing they knew _where_ to look). I almost felt sympathy for the first girl I K.O. today. Almost.

Sigh, I considered my options. I did not have much time for a "safe" operation, therefore, I must choose what to do next wisely before coming back to the room and escort the teenagers out of here.

Choice, it was what defined a man.


	4. Chapter 4: The raging day 3

**thelonelylobstr: I put down the name of Tzeentch as a homage to WH40K. That's all**

* * *

 **The raging first day (third part)**

* * *

I glanced around the room to take in the view. My objectives here numbered as two: to call for reinforcement and to escort the two civilians out of here. The first was done preferably done with muscular blokes with heavy firepower, and the second with all friendly alive and in one piece. In addition, I knew clearly that a secondary objective just popped up: gathering intelligence. No matter who those people were, they were able to kidnap three VIPs, which meant they had the means, the chance and the motive. Figuring them out would be paramount before dealing with those trashes.

After all, no one fucked with the Vietnamese and got away in one piece.

Turning on the web browser, it did not took me long to connect to the website of the Vietnamese Embassy and give them a call. The call itself was free, thanks to _a lot of_ improvements and upgrades (some of which were practically removing corrupted officials from power) in the past years. While the process of actually doing it was the source of various rumours, the end result was a positive one with students and citizens having access to a much better service. I had little care about that however, those details were not mission-critical. I just needed to get a direct line to them and the job would be done.

Besides, I had code words prepared for situations like this. Blame the Intelligence, they were a bunch of paranoid people. Lord Murphy surely had his way with the world…

Only a ring or two before the line was picked up. The sweet melodic voice was in Japanese, but it also came with subtitles in English, Russian and a few other languages on the screen. Ah, efficiency went hand-in-hand with technology, it seemed. Good, it meant that conservatives and cock-blocking arseholes had already known what was good for the country. The reputation of the Vietnamese Embassies around the world was quite tainted for a while…

"This is the Embassy of Soc..."

" _My name is Nguyen Quang Anh, a citizen from Vietnam. I'm being kidnapped by a bunch of ladies in grey coats with blue cars and dark-tinted window. It was roughly two hours ago, current location unknown. There is also two others are kidnapped with me, both Japanese citizens, junior. Requesting rescue._ "

Of course, I spoke it in my own mother tongue, just in case the room was bugged or monitored. Sure, if it was the case then the alarm has already been sent out, but at least it would keep them oblivious from my own plan for a while. Vietnamese was not exactly a widely-spoken language or known by a considerable portion of world's population. Keeping hostiles in the dark with that was highly encouraging as a tactics.

In addition, just in case someone was tapping into this line, there was another level of coded words and phrases. Unless there was a traitor in the midst, the kidnappers would be unable to find out my true messages. "Bunch of ladies", "grey coats", "blue cars" and "dark-tinted windows" respectively meant "Special forces", "contact with hostile", "currently not watched" and "unsecured line". Sure, those phrases were a bit unimaginative, but they worked, not to mention that they were able to hide my identity.

The last part was actually very important. I was a Commando trainee, a Special Force trainee whose future job would be to infiltrate and to destroy. However, I was also the enigma militia known as "Grey Coat" – and this part was best left to mystery.

Back to the job, anyway. Upon hearing the code, the bot, or the operator, instantly re-directed my call to the superior, mostly likely a spook. The whole gap time was about a minute, quite impressive for someone spending the whole day in office. A new voice then sounded up on the line. It was a male, rich and deep and slightly accented. Nothing new here, really. I had seen stranger things during the training.

For obvious reasons, things began with him checking over my identity.

 _"What is your ID number?"_

 _"0158-987-654."_

 _"Passport number?"_

 _"N for Nuke, 1234588"_

 _"River?"_

 _"Pagoda."_

 _"Striker?"_

 _"Flying Dragon."_

 _"Check. Welcome back soldier. This is Nest. We are trying to locate you on the map. Sitrep? Over."_

The tone told me one thing instantly, he had little time for bullshit. Lucky, the same was applied to me. I just wanted to call in support as soon and as fast as possible. The verification procedure was a hassle for sure, but it was necessary and highly critical. Besides, considering my position, it should be a long procedure like that. National security. Figure.

 _"This is November. No window, no visible outside scenery. Visual with seven hostiles so far. One did not see me, four were knocked down, two more were shot and knocked down. So far unnoticed, barely. No signal, currently using a desk computer. Have two other teenagers being kidnapped. One is Orimura Ichika, the other is Sarashiki, probably the youngest daughter. Over."_

 _"Nest to November. Copy that. Casualty? Intel on enemy?"_

 _"November to Nest. None so far. No intelligence on the enemy yet. Potentially a jerk group and their mercs. The ones got shot have military grade weapons. Over."_

 _"Nest to November. Copy that. Your location has been determined. "Golden Wing" villa complex, private-own, unknown owner, east of Saitama district, roughly ten kilometres from the nearest station, one kilometres across the jungle to the next highway. Japanese police has been informed. Expecting reinforcement in one hour. Over."_

 _"November to Nest. East of Saitama district, 10 click to station, 1 over the jungle to highway, ETA one hour. Verify? Over."_

 _"Nest to November. Confirm. What is your plan? Over."_

 _"November to Nest. Guerrilla plan. Over."_

 _"Nest to November. Understood. Contact the Embassy on Channel five, code phrase Blue Ocean when you are done. Contact the team: Call-sign Bear, you are Cub."_

 _"November to Nest. Copy that. Bear rescues Cubs. Over."_

 _"Nest to November. Good luck. Out."_

 _"Out."_

I shut down the connection and breathed out slowly. So far so good. The location had been determined and the first wave of loud bangers was in bound. I may have a SWAT unit, or better, Special Force Group, the Japan's elite counter-terrorism unit. The latter was an analogue to my own work. Of course, I was not as good or as experienced as them.

Then, for obvious reasons, I organized materials for a second attack vector. A single-prong attack was never enough, which had already proven through the trial of blood and the wealth of experience. Time to call down the wrath of the Valkyrie. I dialed a new number this time.

"This is Infi…"

The reception of the Infinite Stratos Academy quickly picked up the phone, just after two rings. Impressive, it fit in with the professional image of the most prestige Academy on the planet. Too bad for them, I had little for the niceties and social politeness.

"Three first-year students from the Academy are kidnapped. Two of them are confirmed high-profile students, Orimura Ichika and Nguyen Quang Anh, the last one is Ms. Sarashiki, the younger. First two from high school division, the last one from junior high, probably. I have information about their situation. Please connect me to the one in charge."

"... _Hai..._ Yes..."

A few noises were heard on the line, those were the clicking sounds and some rapid speeches in Japanese. There was a name being mentioned once or twice, Orimura-sensei. That was both a relief and a worry in the same time. She was both the superior and the one in charge in this situation, and the sister of Ichika. For obvious reasons, I would not tell her that her younger brother was spending time with a teenager girl in a room with no supervisor.

She was one of the most elite IS pilot ever known to mankind. First champion of Mondo Grosso and she was able to protect it three times in a row, she failed at the forth only because she forfeited the match. In addition, she was one of the best and most experienced teacher at the Academy. According to a snippet, she once took the fight against twenty IS suits and still won in the end. She was pretty much on the top of my most dangerous list, right up there with Death and Murphy.

The phone line suddenly went chilling, just like someone had taken away the vitality of the environment. There was no doubt about this, the Brunhilde herself had picked up the phone.

"Who is this"

"Ms. Orimura, I presume?"

"Correct."

"I am a future student of yours, and I'm being kidnapped along with your brother. And in case you are wondering, yes, I'm the second male IS pilot."

"Where are you two now?"

"I don't know. Can you check it?"

Sure, I had the location from the intelligence officer from the Embassy, but it never hurt to double-check with a secondary source, especially when she may have access to some hidden channel of verification. Besides, if she was really an active pilot, she may come down here banging personally. Watching a nice pair of tits coming for rescue was a really nice and wonderful experience – not that she needed to know.

The line stayed silent for a few more moment. I only heard the slight breathing sound on the line, though I was not exactly sure if it was mine or it belonged to the older girl. It gave off a strange feeling. Something told me that Chifuyu was more than her look, she was more dangerous, more mysterious with a more sinister personality. It told all kind of bad omen… Who the hell was she precisely?

"We find it. Your current position is in Saitama district, 10km from the nearest train station by road, 1km to another one on foot. The land you are being kept on is the Golden Wing villa, being own by the Hatzasuki family, currently led by Madam Hatzasuki, ranked 5th in economy power in Japan, noteworthy for being a direct opponent to Sarashiki family."

Well, it explained _a lot_. First, the location was confirmed, I was hold within Saitama District of Tokyo. But the part about its ownership was funny enough – Hatzasuki family. They was an opponent of the Sarashiki in the field of IS manufacturing and support. Both corporations had a considerable share on the Japanese, which meant they could resort to underhand tactics to expand their market. It was dishonorable, but it worked…

Still, if that was true, why was the young Sarashiki only guarded by a few, not layers upon layers, of guards? Unsanctioned maneuver from inside the Hatzashuki? It needed a lot more data for the answer, which meant further investigation and questioning. Looked like I would have to wait then, I was not a professional in wringing out hidden information, I just knew how to be a sharp dagger in the shroud of darkness.

Thinking about it… was there any chance Ichika being kidnapped for the same reason? With an unsanctioned operation and a feminazi in charge, it would make sense for them to kidnap him and me just to prove a point. Having not one, but _two_ , male IS pilots would be a real achievement to show off the supremacy.

Well, no tears for her when I blow her head off then.

"Got that. Golden Wing villa in Saitama."

"... How is my brother?"

"A bit shaken, but definitely not stirred, he's also safe and sound. So is Ms. Sarashiki, the last one gets kidnapped. Please send reinforcement to my location, and pleas pay attention to the surrounding areas, we are attempting a breakout."

"Why?"

"I may, or may not, have lost the element of surprise and stealth. And bringing the other two teenagers out is more beneficial. It would be unwise to get stuck in a hostage situation again."

"Can you do that?"

"Yes, I've done that for quite a few times. You should check my profile ma'am, I'm putting off the call now, will contact you later once we get out of here."

"Understood. Good luck."

"How long does it take you to prepare?"

"An hour, give or take, and I'll be there."

"Copy that. See you later."

The line quickly went dead after that. At least things were confirmed. I would have two separate rescue forces in bound. One with half-naked chick in magically powered exo-skeleton suits, the other was a bunch of kick-arse special force soldiers. The location was also double-confirmed, easing down my worry greatly. With the help of the obtained internal map, it would not take too long to break out…

Hang on a minute, did the Brunhilde herself just say that she would be here? Crap. I had a bad feeling about that. It would not end well… A scene of an explosion and crumbling down building quickly appeared in my mind for some reason…

Well, at least it was not my house, so… yeah. Let's just sic her on the hostile then. I shoved the thought to a corner of my own mind, considering the next part of the job, which was finding some extra intel on the enemy. Using the computer, I checked everything, web browsing history, web bookmarks, data storage… Everything I could get my hands on, really.

It went surpringsly well, almost too well in fact. The web browser showed that the last twenty webpages being accessed belonged to the Hatzasuki Coporation, most of which was exclusive to its employees. It was not just any kind of employee neither, the information showed there was only available to the high ranking ones or the relatives of the bosses. Both of them seemed to apply to the owner of this room, who was the girl I knocked down first.

Poor girl. She just picked the wrong boy to fuck. It did not take me long to deduct and locate her profile. Funny enough, she was also a Hatzasuki and an employee of the group, an assistant of Regional Director in fact. The Director herself was in the next room, 114, and by the look of it, the two were siblings.

Moreover, when I was checking and copying the profile, a few new chatboxes appeared, all of which belong to _other_ Hatzasuki employees (some even bore that name themselves). They asked you (or rather, the girl being knocked out) about the mission. One or two asked about the guard duty, one even asked if she had "eaten" the food… A real gold mine of intelligence and proof was situated right there. Screenshots and logs were quickly taken, being the incriminate documents to put them down for the count.

These people attacked me without provocation, and that was enough to send back a disproportionate response. Hmm…? There was also some kind of notes on… others kidnapped boys? More pictures were shown in the Drive, giving more proof on the bitches. I had to suppress my own emotions when getting them down. Those bitches, they were not humans any more.

Slavery? In modern time?

They deserved nothing but a bullet in their skulls, and I was pretty sure that it was still too nice for them. May be a can of gasoline and a spark would do the job just fine, but it would be too polluting. At least the spark arrive in less than fifty minutes from now. Time to move then.

I cleared the room, deleting all traces of my own existence and infiltration. The room was returned to its original appearance, or as closed to the original as I could. The monitor was switched back to screen saver mode, the lights were turned off and the mess on the table was remained the same.

Pulling out the gun, I opened the door slightly and scanned the site. Luckily, there was none on the hallway. The neighbor room was still silent and locked, meaning that the lady boss was busy doing something inside. It was good enough then, it would be much more troubling if she got out and met up with me. My whole plan would be aborted by then. Stepping out, I kept my eyes scanning on the hallway just in case someone stepping in.

Thankfully, there was no one hostile, which gave me enough time to walk back to meet Ichika and the Sarashiki girl. I needed to think more on their coded names though, _Blue hair_ and _Black eyes_ were a bit un-original. At least they were not the pervert type like _Blue pantsu_ or _Purple bra_. There was a girl there, after all. "Posioning" her mind would bring me at odds with her family. When her parents were a ruthless corporate director and a former Spetnaz officer… Well, I preferred _not_ to mess with them to be honest. My chance of success was too low against such levels of elite.

I quickly led the two teenagers out of the room and we sprinted toward the side exit, the one I found and tagged on the map. It would be just passing the staircase leading downstairs. Well, so far so good, it looked like nothing could go wrong there… Right?

The moment I thought that, the data-pad I was holding quickly flashes up some notices. It appeared that my artworks had been found. All of them, really. The knocked out teenager had been found and the group of dominatrix had been able to bash the door opened when they came to. All things began shortly after we got out of the building.

I spent a few seconds watching the exterior of the building, which looked extremely traditional in Japanese. In addition, the situations between the two environments were also vastly different, where it was strained and void of life inside compared to the sun shining, the wind blowing and the green grass outside. Welcome to my life – I had seen worse shit.

The three of us were just watching the architecture and enjoying the taste of freedom when the whole shit broken down. The alarm siren suddenly blew up, flashing red lights and loud alert sound all over the complex. The tablet quickly showed up the message, something about escaped esteemed guests.

And yes, the word "guests" was in italic, as if to imply something. The message was filled with sarcasm, was it not? Well, at least I was able to call the rescue and gather critical intelligence before getting out. Sure, my disappearance along with my artwork had been found, but my specific current location had not yet. The key word was "yet" for very obvious reason.

A tug was felt on your undersuit. Half-glancing back, I quickly noticed the hand of the Sarashiki princess on my clothes. Despite not speaking it, I was able to see fright and hesitance in her eyes, understandable. Having a cold and stoic face or not, she was just a normal teenager girl, not a hardened veteran like me. She could not take Death in the face and still laughing in the same time.

Behind her, Ichika was much less successful in hiding his agitation. He kept glancing around and whispering something to his own ears, most likely to keep his own wits. Poor bastard. He could use a few military training course to toughen himself up – assuming he could keep his wits while getting out of here first..

My brain ramped up its processing speed, trying to find a solution for this problem. The reinforcement would arrive in thirty minutes, but we could be found in ten or less…

There were a few ways to get out of this tough spot. First was the Yankee style, which meant to grab a car, a SUV if possible, then ride it on the main road with guns blazing. I could not get lost with this one, but it was not effective. Sure, it would look cool but the risk of being spotted and intercepted was too great – it would fail the entire mission.

The second option was to use the side gate, where we were standing pretty close to. A lot of hiding place and the Intelligence had already said that the area was clear of any hostile. Sure, it was a nice place waiting for rescue, but it was quite easy to get lost there… Though the tricks I learnt in the Commando may help a bit in navigation.

The next option was to tell the rescue to haul their arse – but I doubt it would be of any use here.

The last option… well, I was a Commando trainee, a soldier, if I had to die to keep those two safe and secured, I would do that in a heartbeat. They would use the side gate to reach safety while I was acting as their distraction. The chance for me to escape this unharmed was low, borderline zero. However, I had already made peace with myself on the matter of Death.

But no, not today… Not today, Death, not today.

"Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best"

Those were the words and wisdom of an ancient Chinese man, general and politician. Fighting against incoming enemy was possible and plausible, but it was not beneficial here, especially when the reinforcement was in bound and when I had civilians on my back. In addition, the enemy had their home field advantage here, they would know the terrain and lay out better than me. Heck, they even had the edge in term of manpower and weaponry. A Commando could deal with them, with luck. But a Commando trainee slowed down by two civilians? Heh, I doubted it greatly.

If it was obvious that my current course of action would lead to defeat, then I should retreat and regroup. In this case, there were three options: to fight, to hide or to flight. Surrender, for obvious reasons, was not considered… To fight was pretty much impossible or unbeneficial at best. To hide was… well, I could not exactly hide here. Therefore, it seemed like a good time to enact the plan number 36, a.k.a Get the fuck out.

Turning my body back, I put the gun and the dagger away before scooping the girl in bridal style and ignored her yelp. She was quite light, really. The weight I felt on my hand was not much, lighter than my own backpack during the Death Run, really. Well, something was nagging my mind, some line about romance drama, wedding and anime, but I actively shoved those lines away. I had a more pressing matter to attend at hand: the mission. The primary objectives were to escort the civilians to the jungle, to call for rescue party at the painted landing zone. The secondary objectives were to escort the intelligence package to the said position, neutralize any hostile on the way and stay hidden if possible.

The sane part of my mind just noted that I would have the time to freak out later, concerning the part where I bridal carried a girl I met less than an hour ago. Or the part that she had an ex-Spetnaz officer as her father.

"Ichika, speed up. Aim straight for that gate! Go pass that, straight into the jungle and don't stop!"

"What!?"

"Just run!"

My yell was clearly effective in shitting him up, or it was due to my sprint immediately after finish my line without waiting for him. Dropping the poor boy behind would be a black mark on my file, but I knew for sure that his flight-or-fight instinct would kick in and force him to follow me. Therefore, my black mark would be non-existent. It would be highly appreciated that it happened, because I needed by file clean for scholarship, living allowance and promotion. Money always had its power, after all.

Two boys, one in black under-suit and the other in white uniform, ran straight to the side gate, which was just in time too. I vaguely felt some new presence over the corner, and there was no proof to say that they would be friendly. Therefore, I did not stop and see, I just ran straight at full speed, bringing the two teenagers into the jungle. At least Ichika was roughly in good shape, being able to catch up with me at a full tint run. Sure, I was slowed down because I was carrying a girl, but it was still quite impressive for him.

On the bright side, the pursuers were quite slow. No one followed or spotted us fast enough to become a threat. Heck, I did not even think that there was anyone quick enough on the draw to shoot us. It was a narrow escape, but it was much better than the SERE training of the Commando. Actually, almost everything was better than that.

We just kept sprinting into the jungle and did not stop for well over a minute. It was quite a suicidal adventure to run straight into a jungle with no pre-made map or navigation, especially when the said jungle was right next to the site of hostile force. The result from such an action was quite… diversified, ranging from getting lost to being captured and tortured.

At least, my training had rendered that point moot. I was able to find my own direction with natural means there, no need for the fancy high-tech equipment. For communication… well, my bionic left arm was integrated with a computer, allowing me to contact with the ones I wanted with a few simple gesture.

At least, the green wall of plants was able to hide us from the complex. Looking back now, I could no longer see the complex of those Hatzasuki. In combination, it would be at least five minutes further before they could reach this position, more than enough for me to consolidate my position or to find a hiding spot.

Ichika was behind me, but he had already had to slow down and pant. The Sarashiki girl was still holding onto my arm and trembling slightly. Speaking of which, since when did she started do so? While it was carrying some kind of hidden message, I certainly felt no discomfort. She was soft and warm, and a real huggy hugging pillow to carry. Sure, a month on the front line, five in the hospital and eight in the Commando training could not change a simple fact that I was still a boy. A broken and somewhat de-moralised for sure, but I was still a boy, and I enjoyed some small delight when interacting with the other sex like this.

Heh, I was still alive, and I still had a job to protect what I held dear in my heart. That was more than enough to drag me out of bed every morning and keep kicking arse.

"Nguy... ngu... Nguyen-ku... -kun... C... Can... can... we... stop?"

Talk about breaking the emotion. Still, how long was that already? Two minutes under full throttle? Probably closer to one-forty-five though. Still, it would put meu at... something like 500m away from the complex? Yes, around that. And it was enough to put some distance.

"Sure. I think we have run far enough already. Take it easy Orimura-kun, breath slow and evenly. Long and deep breathes..."

I thought I had forgotten something though… Oh, right, the Sarashiki girl, or Sarashiki-san if I wanted to follow the Japanese honorifics system. Blame manga and anime for corrupting my mind, and the less talk about hentai, the better. The girl was still holding on me. Common sense dictated that I should let her down, but there were a few problems with that. One, I was still single and had been so for over 17 years. Two, I was enjoying the sensation immensely, and three, I was not a normal boy anymore.

Besides, she was stilling clinging onto me while being scared shitless. Sure, her face was still the emotionless one, but it was just a façade. In addition, her skin seemed to be paler somehow, and with the fast tempo of breathing, she was definitely scared or agitated. Though whether it was due to kaput escape or the sensation of a boy was another question, a question that I definitely did not want to know the answer.

"Sarashiki-san, are you alright?"

" _Ha_.. I mean, yes. Yes. I'm alright."

She did not look alright though. Being kidnapped was not an easy experience. I knew it… personally, kind of. Being on the frontline could do havocs to my own emotions. At least, she was calm enough to answer me coherently, which was much better than myself back in the old days… And that was probably enough. I think?

"I don't really mind princess-carrying a cute, wonderful and afraid girl like you on my arms Sarashiki-san."

OK, that was probably within the top 20, or even the top 10, of the cheesiest lines I had ever spoken. Heck, I was not even sure if it was a good time to drop a line like that. But then again, I was not really the sanest student in the area. Well, the situation was not even normal here, so who cared about sanity anyway?

Glancing to the side, I froze upon noticing Ichika. The boy was staring at me, his eyes were sparkled and his mouth was opening wide. What was this churning in those eyes? Respect? Awe? Respect? Hmm… What I had done here?

And the cute little girl on my arm? Well, she just had her face flared up in fire. It was almost as if a sea of red had slowly risen up right there, definitely making her even cuter. She squirmed on my arm and almost fell down from my embrace due to the lost of balance. Almost was the key word here, though. I was able to shift my body fast enough to stop her fall, also, I made her hugging and clinging onto me, again. The feeling and the sensation were really nice. I could vaguely felt her warmth and soft body over the fabric, definitely something I would not mind feeling.

Boys would always be boys, after all.

Anyway, I still lowered her to the ground afterwards – she asked for it, after all. For obvious reasons and rules of cool, my demeanor of calm and stoic was still kept during the process. Though it may have failed already, I noticed the corners of my lips tugging up a few times and the warmer feeling in my head. There were also a few other subtle changes over my body, I was not aware of the full technical process, but I knew the general idea clear enough. Damned the hormones, damned the suppress life of a single teenager.

Glancing around the last time to make sure that there was no enemy, I activated the integrated computer on my bionic arm, surprising the two teenagers. Luckily, there was signal available, allowing me to call up the fire support. Ringing the Embassy and hitting the Channel 5, the line was quickly picked up and my ID was verified. Nothing out of ordinary, really. Just basic issues of an Army.

 _"Nest to November. Understood. Please keep the line open, we are triangulate your position. Patching you to the rescue team from Japanese Airborne Ranger now. Over."_

"November to Nest, copy that. Standing by. Over."

"Cub, this is Bear. We are airborne, ETA 35 minutes to the complex. Where are you now? Over."

"Bear, Cub here. We are in the jungle, east of the complex, roughly 500m inside. Can you confirm my location? Over?"

"... Bear here. We got your location. Sit tight. Extract in 34 minutes. Over."

"Three-four minutes. Confirm. Please advised, we have two high-profile civilians. Over"

"Cub, Bear. Solid, two VIPs. Over."

"Bear, Cub. Will contact again with new intel. Dropping the line now. Over."

"Cub, Bear. Roger. See you soon. Out."

"Out."

Cutting the line, I breathed out slowly, being content with what I had here. Everything was still according to plan, which was the A-type scenario, "All is good".

Turning my head around, I quickly noticed the stares of the Sarashiki girl and Ichika. Heh? I was pretty sure that I did not grow a new head over my neck. There was also nothing wrong with my own body neither, as far as I could tell. So, why were they staring at me really?

Well, just asked them then.

"What's wrong?"

"What just happens?"

"Rescue force. I contacted the Vietnamese Embassy earlier, they in turn call the Japanese special force to rescue us. I just chat with them to verify it further more. Therefore, don't worry, you will be on the way home, or safety at least, in half an hour."

Ending the line, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the handgun. The safety was still on, one round in the chamber and two spare magazines were confirmed. The dagger was also hooked on my side, meaning that I was fully armed and combat worthy. Sure, I was lightly armed, with just a handgun and a dagger, and the stereotype Westerners (i.e. the Yanks) did not believe in the chance of victory with such junks.

The problem, however, was that I was trained to win even if I had junks only. I was a Vietnamese Commando trainee, and my forefathers once sunk an escort carrier with nothing but boxers and explosives. Therefore, guarding two teenage VIPs was easy peasy.

Flicking the safety off, the gun was now hot and ready for combat. It was ready to kill and claim names for its own. Sure, my plan was to limit the killing part, but I still needed some precautions, just in case the enemy resisted my offer of non-aggression.

And now, I needed to make sure the two teenagers know about that.

"That being said, Orimura, Sarashiki, please stay here and hide. I'll secure the perimeters and keep guard. Don't worry about that."

Before they even had a chance to response, I had already dashed out, tracing back the route I ran here. If the enemy had already recovered, they would track us down soon enough. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before all of us were re-found and re-captured. Sure, the reinforcement was inbound, but the risk was still presented and I was not willing to risk my chance. Besides, if there were any pursuers, taking them out would be a relief for the Japanese Special force. Less enemy to shoot, less danger, at least, that was how logic went.

Hang on a moment… I noticed something. Running on the ground was the standard issued tactics. Sure, it worked, but it was unable to cover the ground fast enough and it would leave the two teenagers behind my back in the risk of being flanked. Meanwhile, these tree branches were not too high… Yeah, it sounded like a nice idea. Walking to the nearest tree, I proceeded to climb on it.

It was a hard job, really, there was no support, no string to pull me upward, there were only me hands and my feet, which made the job incredibly hard. It took me nearly five minutes and a lot of effort to finally able to climb over it. Yet, finally, I was able to do that. With Secret Commando techniques, non-disclosure to any non-members, really.

Kneeling on a major tree branch, I glanced down the ground and saw no enemy in all direction, which was a real relief. Then, I moved from tree branch to tree branch by hopping among them, making a circle around the two hiding teenagers. It was finally confirmed that there was no one around here then. Sure, I heard someone shouting over, but the thick foliage had already obscured the sight between the two parties.

Still, I still pulled out the suppressor and attached it to the gun, just in case. It would severely reduce the power of the cartridges, but it would also mask my presence, prolonging the stealth and the safety of the teenagers. If worse came to worst, well, I had enough ammunition to fight against all of them. The chance for them to find the two kids before I dying was low or slim at best, and outright zero at worst.

At least they did not move toward my position. I was not sure if it was a good thing or not. On the one hand, there was no bloodshed, on the other hand, something inside me was grumbling about this loss. Damned that fighting instinct. I should really keep that in check for a little while longer. The IS Academy would have enough firing range for me to let loose. Sure, they would not have access to heavy weaponry, but a man could dream, right?

A slight tremble came from the computer on my arm, it were incoming communication. I had to set it into silent mode a while ago, having the ringtone of "Totally Spies" (it's a classic show) blazing while hiding away from the enemy was a terrible experience.

"Cub, this is Bear. Do you copy? Over."

Hm, the Japanese Ranger team again. Were they here already?

"This is Cub. I'm reading you loud and clear. Over."

"Cub, Bear. We have found out a landing zone 300 meters south of your current position. A clearing of roughly 70m in diameter. Please head there immediately. Over."

"Bear, Cub. Understood. Do you have any assault team to attack the compound? Over."

"Cub, Bear. Affirmative. Team Saber and Assassin are preparing to engage. Any message you want to deliver? Over."

"... Bear, Cub. Affirmative. Room 110 has two bounded and wounded hostiles, room 114 has at least one hostile, at least four more hostiles are injured, but free. The enemy is on alert at the moment. They have found out about our escape and their casualties. Over."

"Cub, Bear. Requesting confirmation, two in room 110 and at least one in 114? Over."

"Bear, Cub. Correct. Moving to the Landing Zone now. Keep the line open, will update later. Out."

"Cub, Bear reads you loud and clear. Over and out."

Of course, when I was saying so, I had already jumped down on the ground via the five-point landing techniques. The trick eased down the pressure greatly, keeping me away from being injured and hurted. Then, with my own agility, I was able to stand up and run just a second after. I had to notify the two teenagers about this, their ride had finally arrived.

When I arrived, they were sitting and leaning on the trees, being as quiet as they could be. Or at least they were just trying to ease down their worry. Well, it did not matter anymore. Reinforcement was just ten minutes away. Combined with our movement speed, we would only have to wait for a few minutes before they arrived. Enough for them to catch their breath and not being surprised by any patrol groups of the Hatzasuki.

A few short and crisp lines were able to pull them back on their feet. And somehow, the Sarashiki girl had her ankle strained. No shit? Ten minutes to the rescue and this? It was definitely a work of Murphy. It appeared that I had to picked her up and carried her again, bridal style. Now the idea had finally struck in my head, it made the two of us looked like some lovey dovey love-birds. While it was a strange idea, getting married with someone one met in a threatening situation, the kidnap was actually not that bad…

Sure, I would get teased for this. Looking down on her, some corners of my brain simply took the future pranksters in stride and said "Totally worth it".

It did not take long for us to arrive at the edge of the clearing. My trained ears pick up the iconic thumping sound of the helicopters. There were at least three of them fling in different directions. Still hiding ourselves under the foliage, I watched the sky above, ignoring the stars of the two teenagers.

One helicopter, a UH-90 "Cherokee", successor of the UH-60 Blackhawk, quickly landed on the clearing. The grass was pushed down with the blazing wind from the rotating blades and the occupants quickly jumped out. They were soldiers cladded in back suits, searching the surrounding. And they had probably just missed me hiding in the shadow. Not a surprise there, my experience in urban combat really helped me in hiding away.

Of course, I still wanted to check up with the "Bear", just to make sure that those soldiers were really the "Bear" group and not a part of the Hatzasuki. Called it paranoid, but it was the motto of any militaries on the world: Trust, but verify. Bringing up the computer, I rang up the team, and the process took place very quickly. Code words confirmed that they were actually the rescue force of Japanese Airborne Rangers. With that, I stepped out of the tree line with a girl in my arm and a boy behind me.

It sounded extremely anti-climatic, but the point was that the mission was done. Mission accomplished.

I escorted the two teenagers onto the helicopter, making sure that they are safe and secured in their seats before settling in. Asking for a radio set, I reported the situation to the higher-ups and provided intel for the ones in charge of this operation.

Meanwhile, I turned my gaze out of the window. I noticed smoke rising from the complex – the site was being stormed and attacked. Fair enough, those bitches bought these upon themselves. No tears for the wicked and the crooked.

My day was extremely terrible, just because of them. Arrive in Japan by five in the morning, hit by a RPG by seven, woke up by nine, and then got rescued at 10:30.

The worst part was that I could not have a moment of peace until five in the afternoon. Debrief upon debrief, then followed by questioning and interrogation. There was also one or two political shit storms being thrown in. The point was that by the time I was released from holding custody, I was dead tired, mentally and physically exhausted. Fuck.

I envy with those two teenagers, they got their freedom back by twelve and their lunch was paid by the Police. Pricks. I was starving then! The only thing I had was just a pack of biscuit from an automated machine inside the Police Station. They? They had pizza!

Fuck them.

Hell, and by five, my problems were not even over yet. My belongings had been burnt and lost in the attack, which meant that apart from the clothes and the weapons on my body, I had nothing else. Therefore, I had to replenish them soon. In addition, I was still having some sensitive intelligence in my possession, I had only told my interrogator that but I had yet to given it to anyone.

Oh, right. Ms. Orimura and the Sarashiki elders were staring daggers at me when I stepped out of the room. Strange, they had not returned home yet, it appeared that they wanted to speak with me. The problem was that they were not looking friendly.

Yeah. My life sucked.


	5. Chapter 5: Meeting with the Sarashiki

**Thank you for your support for this fanfiction/story-only thread. I wonder if you guys can drop by the forum and join the quest there.**

* * *

 **UN Peacekeeper:** Thank you for your support. And here is a new chapter for you.

* * *

 **Meeting with the Sarashiki**

The intelligence gathered from the computer of the villa complex was quickly handed over to the Japanese Intelligence. Being a good man could help me progress, and hogging all information would see me being vilified – see Dumbledore bashing of Harry Potter fanfiction for an example. However, Lady Luck was not smiling to me, there was nothing decisively new when I handed them the intel. As it turned out, while Team Bear was busy brining the three teenagers back, Team Assassin was infiltrating their system to dig out the words.

However, it did not all end in vain. My own insight was able to make the interrogator interested, as if I had hit a gold mine without knowing it. Seeing a man in mid forties licking his lips in anticipation would quite damaging for my psyche if I had not been hardened beforehand. I did not have enough details to make up a picture, but what I know would be helpful to put a string around the delicate necks of the Hatzasuki clan. For kidnapping me and burning my belongings, those bitches would have to pay for their crime.

Next was the meeting with the Vietnamese Embassy and the Japanese government, who decided to compensate me for my problem. Though it was done mostly by the later, the former just promised help and support during my time here – _any_ kind of help, including intelligence and unsanctioned operations. The money was quite helpful, it would help me to fill up my wardrobe and give me the necessary items to begin study here. If pushed, I could totally use that money to convince the yakuza to solve my problem – with guns and blades, obviously.

When all paperwork and bureaucrat problems were dealt with, I walked out of the hall, just to see two families waiting for me outside. From the looks of their eyes, I did not think that they want to give me a slap on the back.

Crap.

First thing first, deal with the heavy fighter. Removing the high-threat target before going in any major combat was preferable. Having them around would be just a nuisance. Therefore, trying my best to maintain my calm face and clear voice, I approached THE Brunhilde for a talk. How I could actually manage to do that was another question that I may or may not want to know the answer. But the end was the same, I was able to speak to her in English with little hiccups in my own talk and even less hesitation.

"Good afternoon Miss Orimura. Do you mind if I talk to your brother a bit? He seems to be pretty shaken by the events today, and I believe I can relief some of his grieves on the matter."

"Hmm? And do you not want to talk to me?"

"With all due respect ma'am, you have a full school year left to grind me for precise details. Or you can also ask for an AAR, After-Action Report. What you want to know will be told in such time."

"But that is not the real reason that you do not want to speak with me?"

She was pretty sharp, I must credit that to her. Not many people could see through my façade and bullshitery. That was a very impressive deed, considering that my ability to mask my own emotion had been hardened and tempered by war and training.

"You are right ma'am. I have no idea what you want to hear and in what form. Not to mention that I'm being bounded by various confidential causes due to my occupation. I hope you don't mind me speaking so."

"And how is my brother related to that?"

"Mental trauma induced by shock is highly dangerous and brings serious long-term problems. It is highly recommended to remedy those troubles before they blow up in one's own face. I've seen it ma'am, seen it, survived and laughed in its face. I can help your brother to deal with the problem. Besides, we speak roughly the same kind of language and similar mentality."

"One condition."

I hoped she did not meant to tear me apart or savored me in her embrace. Though to be fair, I did not really mind the second. Orimura Chifuyu was a very beautiful woman with well-developed figure and pleasant speaking accent, not to mention her professional and ice-cold manner. Kind of like my favorite fantasy dream – blame my hormones for that.

"Please speak, I'll see if it is within my capability."

"I want you to talk with me tonight at my place. A bed and necessary items will be provided for you. Are there any questions?"

"No ma'am."

"And stop calling me ma'am, call me Orimura-sensei."

"Yes Orimura-sensei."

Despite looking very calm outside, I almost crapped my own pants – or felt it became a bit more uncomfortable. Having a beautiful woman telling me to talk with her for the night at her place had serious implications, the most severe of which would be having sex. While the more hormonal part of my brain was yelling and growling in primal joy, the responsible part quickly shot it down with a smoking barrel, both she and you are too professional and self-controlled to dwell into such job.

She wanted some answers, and therefore, I would better answering her to remove future complications and issues. After all, my fellow kidnapped was her own younger brother, and I did the lion share of breaking him out along with a very cute teenage girl. To say the Brunhilde not interested in my work would be a severe understatement. Besides, she may want to deal with the kidnappers herself in a proper and personal way. And who was I to stop her from doing so?

Then, with the lady's permission, I approached the guy and dragged him toward a corner, away from the prying eyes and ears. The problem was his own movement though, Ichika seemed to be sluggish somehow, almost as if he was depressed for a reason. Furthermore, it looked like he had little strength in his own stance, allowing other to push him around – yet, he called himself a man?!

Fuck him! Did all Japanese men lose their spine after the Emergence of Infinite Stratos suits? Did they not fight back with tooth and nail? Bull shit to the answer "no"! They were the descendant of samurais, of ninjas of Nobunaga, and of Onoda. How the fuck did they go down with no fight or no blaze of glory?

Hell, in Vietnam, us boys and men took the matter into our own hand to prove the point. A long and drawn-out debate did little to temp down the extremists and the feminazis, and after those bitches crashed a car over a boy and gave little fuck about it, well, I joined a nation-wide school brawl. Nearly half of the schools in the country was suspended, but its result was achieved: No men would bend their knees and backs to serve the women, it was better to die on the feet than to live on the knee. The IS pilots and their supporters had to accept that fact, or risked everything if they refused.

Anyway, back to the talk with Ichika, I dragged him to sit down on a comfortable couch. Watching his movement and body language, I felt like I had picked up something. The boy was too depressed and stressed, and that was not to consider the possibility of fear and anxiety in his mind. Just fucking awesome.

"Ey, man. Are you alright?"

"Huh? I'm… I'm…"

"Actually, I don't think you are alright at all. You are depressed, stressed and mentally exhausted. You are thinking too hard about some issue and you have no way out. Don't even deny it. Now, I've seen enough, I can help you with whatever you have on your mind. Just talk. I'm here to help."

"I'm worried Nguyen-kun..."

"Humm? Don't worry, just talk. I'm not here to judge or trash you, I'm here to talk and to help you. That is my word, and I'm planning to stick with it."

"I... I mean... Am I even worthy? I can't even protect myself, how can I protect my sister? I'm not as strong as you, I was even afraid and couldn't do anything, you were very brave then and you alone did everything from breaking us out, keeping us safe and bringing us back to safety... You... I'm not even worthy to stand next to my sister like you Nguyen-kun..."

That was it? Inferior complex? It was strange, but not entirely unsolvable. I had heard about that before. Heck, I even spoke mostly the same words in the first day I joined the force as a Militia or when I received some training during that time.

"Tell me, Orimura-kun. Were you still able to move today?"

"Yes, bu..."

"Were you able to talk coherently? In a foreign language no less?"

"Yes and yes. W..."

"Were you able to keep your pants dry?"

"Huh!? Yes, but..."

"Were you able to climb on the rescue vehicle without any help?"

"Yes. W..."

"Good. So that you are better than I was Orimura-kun. When I was... stuck in a hostile scenario the first time, I was frozen, I couldn't move or think clearly. I was just a mumble jumbo and I had my pants wet in... 30 seconds? And that is the less embarrassing part. You were very brave today mate. You have nothing to be worried about."

"But I couldn't do anything!"

"Really? I disagree. You keep Sarashiki-san company. You can say that she doesn't need one, and I call bull crap on that. If my guess is correct, she is just better at hiding her fear. Just like I am. We can deny many things, even our own thoughts, but we just want someone we trust to keep us company."

"Are... are you serious?"

"Quite. Granted, I cannot say about her for sure, but that is correct regarding myself."

"And you are afraid then?"

"Damn right I was. It was hostile territory, I had no intelligence about anything. The enemy, a good chunk of a family clan seemingly, seemed to hurt me, kill me or worse. Of course I was afraid."

"But you were very brave! You should not..."

"Bravery is not the absence of fear, Orimura-kun, it is knowing the fear, accepting it and keep pushing yourself onward. You are brave today, and you are definitely braver than I was on that day. You have nothing to ashamed about yourself. Remember that."

"Thanks..."

"You're welcome. Remember this buddy, we are just human. Everyone has his or her own doubts and fears, what set the great apart is what they choose to do. They act by the best of their ability and that's all. They choose not to fall into despair they fight back with every ounce of strength they have. In return, they are remembered in the history. What will you do Orimura-kun?"

It looked like a fire had been ignited in his eyes. Yeah, go figure… It was the dream of every young man to be remembered as some badass motherfucker in the history though, and Ichika seemed like he could use some self-confidence. It would not be much, but the tone and the speed of his speech suggested some kind of change in his belief, which would be useful in making him a tougher boy. And if I could see it, others could definitely do the same too.

A more confident male IS pilot would be more beneficial for society as a whole after all. Japanese males were in dire need for a serious morale boost, and seeing a kickass fellow man in the IS suit could do wonders in boosting back their confidence. Granted, I was also an IS male pilot, but I was a foreigner, a _gaijin_ , not a _nipon_. Coming from the same region of Pacific – Asia, I knew very well how much the people could become nationalistic if they wanted to.

" _Let me tell you something about the Pacific-Asian, buddy. They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full, their quota of tea is met and their internet is working. But take away their creature comforts... deprive them of rice, sleep, manga... put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time... threaten what they held dear, their homeland, their family, their friends and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and violent as the most bloodthirsty terrorists and criminals. You don't believe me? Look at those faces, look at their eyes..."_

Hell, I had been one of those "nasty and violent" people, and to be honest, I was still one of them. I just got better at controlling by own blood thirst though. There was simply no need to unleash it in day-to-day activities, not to mention that I had the order to kill anyone.

Well, the two boy just kept chatting for a bit longer, where I tried my best to encourage him to become a better man, a better student and a better pilot. Though to be fair, for an outsider, it was more like me giving him some shit-talks and challenges, but in the end, he still looked better. His back was straighter, his fists were tighter and his eyes were sharper. The sense of a waken beast was sensed from him, and for me, it was enough. The boy had told me nothing about his past, but based on his tone and his subtle messages, this was not the first time he was kidnapped in an IS-related incident. Guess I would have to leave him to advance at his own rate, then.

It was slightly late when I was done with the boy, about six or so. When I turned around, a muscular man had already stood behind me. What made me interested the most was his gaze, sharp, focus and deadly. He just stood there with his arms folded in front of his chest. Not too far behind him was three other women, or to be more precise, one grown up woman and two teenage girls, all of them had blue hair but with different face expressions.

However, how the ladies looked was unimportant then, my biggest concern was the big burly man standing in front of me. If what I had heard, this man was a former Spetnaz officer of Alpha Group, whose history had more black ink that paper. It meant that he had done some serious stuff during his service… The pressing matter was that he looked hardly older than mid-forty. If he could had done that much at such a young age, he had already stepped into my "Not to be Messed with" list at a very high position. To think that such a man was judging me… it prompted me to stand straight and alert.

"Not bad, kid, not bad. Military-raised brat?"

"No, sir. Milita, conscripted, currently Junior Officer Cadet."

"Front line combat?"

"At the very front sir."

"Impressive. You are quite hardcore… Anyway, the ladies want some… salad in the pizza restaurant – don't ask me how or why. Do you want to tag along? For... bonding and ideas like that."

It meant he was probably trying to say that I had been able to impress him. However, he still wanted to grill my own arse in front of his precious little princess – and I had no right to say no. For obvious reason, I could not say no. This was a real chance for me to win the heart of the future waifu – though whether it was the elder or the younger Sarashiki sister remained to be seen. The chance for another situation like this was fairly low, I would enroll with the two girls the day after and we would be practically kept there. Sure, I could blow my way out, but I prefer keeping the Academy in one piece if possible.

Besides, the elder Sarashiki here was a wealth of experience. He had lived through the introduction of Infinite Stratos suits, he saw the rise of female supremacy with his own eyes, yet, he was still able to keep his air of authority and no female had tried to mess with him today. I had to ask him how, even if the only reason was that I wanted to have peace during school year. Plus, he was a former Spetnaz, he was bound to know someone being able to do something. That list of contact would be of tremendous help if I found myself in need of less favorable methods.

Beside, the younger Sarashiki girl would also tag along, and I thought that she was better looking than her sister. Her temper seemed to be much milder than the other three, which fit my taste even more. Besides, I wanted to find out her first name, calling her Sarashiki was just too long and time-consuming for my own taste.

A few moments later, I had already sat in the car of the Sarashiki family, a black and grey SUV (very blend in, yeah…). It should not be any problem when the elder Sharashiki sister kicked my arse to the back seat along with her younger sister, right? Well, especially when she was grinning like a Cheshire cat under the raised eyebrows of the Mother and the fuming Father.

Yep, talk about the lucky first step...

Still, I was able to sit next to the Sarashiki, which was a wonderful experience, but the two of you just kept quiet, not knowing what to say. The two of us just sat fairly closed to each other, content with the closure. However, it looked like she was trying to lean on you but then hold herself back, perhaps because of shyness? To be fair, if I was just a normal boy, I would do the same. Still, it would be highly counter-productive to lean on her body under the piercing gaze of her father.

Well, in that case, may be it would be better if I did something else. After all, it would be quite a while left before we arrived at the restaurant, thanks to heavy traffic outside. Therefore, I decided to check the mail with my integrated computer on my bionic arm. It was not like I had been trying to hide that fact anyway. Well, there was nothing worth of notice. The General checked up on my situation, Doctor Thanh gave me a bunch of spam and the rest was notification from online forums. Space Battle continued voting for total annihilation in an Interstellar War quest, Sufficient Velocity was considering using Magitek to fight Sith Lord Darth Stupidious while Alternate History threw back WW2-era leaders back to WW1 with their memories intact. Wonderful…

"Oooh... Nguyen-kun, what is that? A wrist-mount computer?"

"No, Sarashiki-san, it's an computer-integrated bionic arm. My old arm was ripped off completely last year."

"WHATTT?"

I had no idea who screamed first though. The Mother, the elder sister or the younger one, or the youngest just suddenly griped my arm (the bionic one) strongly. Huh? Did I say something wrong? Come on, most of my profile was available online, or at least its public version. A simple search was more than enough to tell everyone about my injuries. Sure, they were not informed about my bionic heart and lung, but the news about the bionic eyes and arm should be well-spread by now… It was not, apparently.

"Well, yes, my left arm is lost in the war, courtesy of a close by artillery strike and finished by the... IS sortie. I have already come to terms with it, don't worry. Besides, it comes with a computer, so it is not completely a loss."

The car became uncomfortably quiet after that. All three women stared at me with surprise, shock and fear. Well, to be fair, they were women and definitely not soldiers, therefore, they could not really understand it. May be that was why the young Sarashiki girl was trembling with her hand on my arm. Being a soldier and a young man, I just simply put my right hand over it, trying to calm her down.

"Sarashiki-san, I'm still alive and kicking, am I not? It means I'm still able to watch your back if the need arises - which I did. I'm always around, so don't worry about that."

It was not after finishing the line that I realized the full implications of it, I just practically asking for the girl's hand in marriage right in front of her family. A girl whom I just met this morning, and a girl whose family was more than capable to kill me a few times over. Well, fuck.

It took the entire reserve of my moral strength to stop me from nervously glancing around and keep my sight on the blue-hair girl sitting next to me. Though as Murphy had already decided, things went progressively worse – kind of. The elder sister suddenly turned cheery and dropped her own bombshell:

"Nguyen-kun, I think you should call her by another name. There are three Sarashiki-san's here after all."

I was pretty sure that her father just shot me and her, but mostly me, a glance of anger. On a brighter note, it appeared that the elder sister had just given me her approval to court her sister. May be she thought that a 17-year-old young man with a lot of credit was good enough for her 16-year-old sister. And yes, the young Sarashiki was 16, even if she had the same size and build as a 14-year-old girl. The elder sister just grinned in "Just As Planned" style when her sister hesitantly spoke up.

"Y... You can call me Kanzashi... Nguyen-kun."

"Oh, you are a very lucky boy, Nguyen-kun, it is quite unheard of for Kanzashi-imouto to tell her name to someone on the first day. Ne, ne, tell us your name. What should we call you now?"

Why the hell did me feel something was wrong? May be because something was actually wrong? Well…

"My name is Quang Anh, but if it's to hard to speak... well, you can try Quillan, a wolf cub in Latin."

"But does your real name have any meaning?"

"Hmm... something about light and being smart, like a king-smart."

"Interesting... So I guess your name would be... Hikari? Ne, Kanzashi, what name do you prefer? Quang Anh-kun or Hikari-kun?"

Ok, was that taking things a bit too far? I was not sure if I should speak up or not. Mrs. Sarashiki seemed amused for some reasons, the elder Sarashiki sister looked like she wanted to make me squirm even more, and her dad looked like he was planning my death in the most crucifying way possible. Well, that was normal for a family meeting the prospect boyfriend of their youngest girl, or at least that was what I thought. Still, I preferred having… Nevermind it then. For some reason, Kanzashi was hiding from the teasing gaze of the sister by hiding under your left arm. It was counter-productive for obvious reason, but I ignored it. The girl was cute – that was all.

It took quite a dose of teasing and pushing more before the two young teenagers calling each other by the given names without bubbling or blushing. Kanzashi had finally chosen to call me with the name I was born with, and it did not take long before her sister joking about exotic names and choices. Well, she was the elder sibling, and by tradition, she had the right to prank the hell out of her sister and her boyfriend. Heck, I would do the same with my younger brother… if he was alive.

Thinking about him put a dampening on my mood, but I forcibly pushed those dark thoughts away. Nightmares had been plaguing my own dreams for long enough. I had suffered hell and shit with them for long enough. So, tonight, let's just enjoy the night like a normal teenager visiting his girlfriend's family. I was able to hide the shadow in my eyes fast enough, before anyone even noticing it.

Upon reaching the restaurant, it did not take long for all five of us to secure the table, which was probably due to their own reputation and standing. The Sarashiki owned a part of the Infinite Stratos market in Japan, not to mention their spread and investment into engineering business. To say they were not influential was a big outright lie, and to say they did not even reserve a table was an understatement for their own power.

Food was ordered quickly enough. The Sarashiki elders said that they would pay for the meal, so I would be free to choose whatever I like. However, the code of conducted demanded me to be polite and professional. Giving the menu back to the ladies, I yielded the right to order food for them, which quickly helped me to earn some approving smiles from the Sarashiki family and the happy blush from the girl sitting next to me.

To keep it short, food was quickly ordered after that, salads and rice for the ladies, ribs for the gentlemen and pizza for everyone (no pineapple is involved, thanks God). For obvious reasons, baking pizza and roasting ribs took quite a while, so the family quickly chatted up with each other. Not me though, the Mr. Sarashiki quickly gestured me to step out and have a talk with him, man-to-man probably.

Well, the code here required me to follow him. Firstly, he was the elder, which meant the junior (i.e. me) must follow his order and work. Secondly, he was the father of my crush (yeah, I think I kind of crushing on Kanzashi). Thirdly, he was also a former Special Force operator, and it was better to follow his words than not to follow it and having my own jaw broken.

He would probably ask me about my intention toward his little princess, what I would like to do with her and the like. Heck, he could even ask about my own past and my current occupation. The first line was easy enough to answer, but my past and my job could not be spoken easily. Many details were better left unsaid, or his own judgment on me would be heavily screwed. That was not even mentioning the confidential oath I took when joining with the force. I could vehemently deny everything though, it would make me look like an arse, but I could also not confirm everything due to my own code.

Well, look like I had to go with the flow then.


	6. Chapter 6: Contacts

**Neonlphe:** Thanks for your comment. I just want my quest (the original form of this fanfiction) to be as "real" and as "normal" as possible, and in order to do that, I would have to explain the changes logically and show its result. The shift of society into a matriarch system was too fast (in less than 10 years), which mean frictions. Therefore, I need a traditional view point to counter that - military comes first to my mind. I'm a firm believer in the grim reality of war - so you have a kid turned soldier, burdened by his own nightmares and the (new) social view point on his own gender. You can be assured that he gives no fuck back. The romance here is VERY fucked up - all three teenagers in the pairings have serious mental trauma and the only thing stops them from going insane is each other. Still, this part would be a few chapters down on the road, so... yeah, hope you can enjoy the development and building up here.

* * *

 **Contacts**

"So, what do you have to tell me?"

The Sarashiki father did not pull back, he simply lashed out with a major barrage. The question had both the range to cover any leads I wanted to hide and the intensity to break through the defense I had. He just stood there with his arms folding, his back straight and a rough voice. He seemed to be ready to pounce on me, even if it was because of the smallest mistake. In combination with his thick Russian accent, I was damned sure that he was trying his best to scare my tits off.

However, he was just "trying", which meant he failed to scared me. Besides, I was not exactly a normal boy in the first place. A normal male teenager would not be able to survive the front line of a war, to avenge his family, to join Special force and still kick arse. I had already survived enough ordeals to show my calm face against the grumpy father of a girl. Sure, he was a former member of Spetnaz, but my point stood.

Harding your face to the hard-rock and stoic level, I asked him to gain more wingling room as well as time to set up my own works:

"Can you clarify on that sir?"

"Who are you? Where do you come from? How do you control the IS? Things like that."

So, basically, he wanted a self-introduction from myself, one preferably with all the information I could spare. It was interesting to say the least. Hmmm… Boasting myself was immediately out of the question, while it was a pleasure to do, it would back fire horribly and spectacularly. The man would think me as a self-titled arrogant arsehole, and for a father of a cute girl, it would mean… future problems. However, if I did not say anything worthwhile, he would think me as a boy with little to no back bone, and may be an inferior complex…

Therefore, I should speak something, may be sticking to the truth, the part of information had been released, at least. It was truthful enough while still had a degree on confidentiality. Because he was an ex-soldier, he would be able to understand that and I would have nothing to fear. After all, every army had its own skeletons and secrets.

"Sir, as I said earlier, I'm a Militia, volunteered to join when my country was invaded last year. I spent a full month in the rubble that once was my hometown. I was able to link up with the main regular force and fought side-by-side with them after that."

"Your parents..."

"Did not make it sir... And I'd rather not to talk about it now. I hope you understand."

He just nodded grimly after that, as if he knew the experience first-hand. Then again, he was a former Special force operator, he may have already experienced personal losses… He seemed to be able to understand me perfectly, the grieve and the pain in his eyes were real, there was no way around to fake it. I wanted to talk more, but then, I was bounded by my duty, which had no place and room to give me that freedom. Besides, I had known and experienced many things that better left unsaid. After all, I was the Grey Coat militia and the youngest Commando trainee within a century. Those two names would be able to cause many red flags when they were separated, let alone being wired together.

"I take it... you are affected by PTSD?"

"Yes sir. I have some counsel after enlisting as a Junior Cadet Officer. It helps, but... I still feel something is still there..."

"... It never goes away. The memory of your deceased comrades, their smile, their curses, their lives, and their deaths. And you even lost your family. K... Young man, we soldiers can never forget or get over it, we just come to terms with those nightmares."

"Do you?"

"Quite, though I don't recommend my way to you. For now, at least."

"Why sir?"

"You are what? Sixteen? Seventeen? You are too young to get drunk, soldier or not... And my daughter is just sixteen, I don't want her to be bumbling over with a drunkard, and I don't expect any grandchildren in 10 years, minimum. Understood?"

For translation, he had turned alcoholic for a while, and he may have a major increase in libido and time spent on bed with his wife (or worse, some girls before marriage) to keep the nightmares away. It seemed to be effective, for him at least. But for obvious reasons, he did not want me to use it, especially when it concerned his cute little daughter, somehow. After all, while Kanzashi was cute and I would not mind having a drink and then doing hanky panky stuff with her, speaking that aloud would be highly dangerous for my health. The man just gave me a subtle hint after all.

"Well, I'm seventeen, I'm too young to have my life getting ripped apart once more. After facing death, I want to... live my life to the fullest, so to speak."

"That is pretty optimistic from someone losing his arm, and his eyes."

"My people are optimistic. Well, mostly. Quick to forgive, quick to heal. But we never forget, we are just... good at hiding our pain and sorrow."

"That is pretty deep young man. Quite mature too."

"I spent the last seven or eight months with a bunch of old men, I'm bound to pick something up."

That was quite true. However, while many people thought of some grey-haired military commanders, I was actually spending my time with twenty-something young men in the Commando training. There were young, but I was younger, which meant they were old men to me. Besides, it was the gruesome selection course of Commando, even the most innocent could turn philosophic after passing through it.

"So, what do you think of my daughter?"

"Which one sir?"

I just had a bad feeling about this...

"The second one, the one you would love to call Kanzashi-chan. Though if you want to do that, you'd better earn my permission first."

Well, it was what I think, right? Still, it was still within my expectation. So, time to show my game face then. Bringing up my stoic face, I braved myself. I could directly say that I wanted to court her, or try to be worthy of her. However, both of them would tell him that I was crushing on her, and saying so to her father would be a terrible idea.

"She is a good friend, or someone I hope I'm worthy to keep as a friend."

He seemed surprised by that, as if he was thinking that I would be saying something about the beauty or the intelligence of his daughter. Many comrades had fallen into this trap, and they had to pay dearly for that. Besides, I knew myself clear enough, I was just crushing on her and not loving her. It may fade away with time, or not… Still, a neutral answer would be the best one, it gave me enough room for maneuver while it was still technically a truth.

"A friend, huh? So, tell me, you punky scum, are you worthy to say that word?"

Ohh… it looked like he was trying to get a raise out of me. J̶̬̘̼̘͉̪̹̉͌͌̅̚͠Ũ̴̡̨̪̳̬̦̱̹̱̪͎̬͛̌͛̉̕ͅͅS̴̢̺̬̳̝̺͑̈́͜Ṱ̴͚̘̬͎̫̝͖͊́̅̽͊̕ͅ.̵̬̟̜̣̗͍͎͖̻̜̟̠͚̱̩͊̎̔̈́͋̓̓͝ ̷̧̢̩̳͖̹̣̱̦̹͚̖͗̐͜͜͠ͅĄ̴̧̺̹͈͕͉̼̬̰͇̈́̑̽͛͐̊S̶̛̯̼̫̫̅̏̆̀̏̈́̆̐̎̄͋͐.̴̛͕͍̯͇̩͕̅̀̐̾̂͛̍́͝ͅ ̶̨̛̥̲͖͕͓̗̮͍̩̇͐̏̇̓̂̆̈́͘͜P̶̘̗̝̹̤̝̪͕͎̫̮͌̇̉͗͛̄͂͋̋ͅL̵̩̭̙̪͍̭̺͕̩̻̩͐̀͋̌͛́̀͝Â̵̡̞͖̠̝͚̙̼̙͌͐͛̃͂̇̒͑͝Ń̸͖̪͉̫̖̥̝̖̱Ń̸̡̞̼̖̻̙̎̎̃̇̃̈͛̃̎̕͠͠Ë̵̛̛̘̮̖́͌̒̉̉̿͒̑̆̕Ḑ̷̦̺̠̖̬̳̲͚̙̥̋.̸̡̛͉̣͙͉̳̭̯̬̏̌̂̍͆͆̾̿̎̉̑̚̚͠

Or as expected, really. He must think that he needed to know the level of my mental strength. Oh, please! I had seen hell, I had survived a war and I had done a crap ton of shit. And that was even before I pass the Commando selection test. I could definitely take on whatever he threw at me.

"Yes, sir. I believe I am."

"An orphan, a killer and a liar and you still dare to say that?"

OK, that was really a low blow. Something raged inside me, but I was able to keep it contained in my mind, there was no need to lash out and to lose control here. I was a professional soldier, not a hormonal teenage boy.

"Sir, I'm an orphan due to unforeseen circumstances, I'm a killer by occupation. I do not deny those two facts, despite they are really low blow but I deny being a liar in this case. I have not lied anything to you, Mr. Sarashiki."

"So, what makes you, an orphan and a killer, worthy of being a friend to my precious daughter?"

So, father's instinct? He was pretty sharp, really. At least I had somewhat expected such a situation. The wording may be off a bit, but the general trend where the Sarashiki pissed me off by dismissing was the same. I just had to exploit the angle of a soldier here, he was a part of the armed force, he should be able to understand this.

"I'm strong sir, because I have my weaknesses. I'm an orphan, as you say, so I know the pain of losing the loved ones, I'm a killer, not because I like or want to, but because I want to protect my loved ones. I can protect my friends with those ideals, but it doesn't mean I'm blood thirsty. I will always try the peaceful option first... But as every man, I have my own limits. Does that answer your question sir?"

I may have finished the last bit with a bit too much force though, it came out almost as a sneer and a jab. But the main idea was maintained, or at least, that was what I hoped for. With a combination of a firm and hardened expression, I was able to tell him that while standing my ground. And if it did not work, I still had some back-up plans of my own.

And then, he laughs. Not the booming voice, but more like a chuckle.

"Good, good job soldier. You pass my test. Seems like you are worthy of my daughter after all. But I don't want you two to get hunky punky in the next two years, minimum, copy?"

Huh? That was all? I expected something more, really.

"Crystal, sir."

"Good... good. Call me Vasily from now on, got that kid?"

"Eh... it's quite impolite in my country to call someone older without some kind of honorific or prefix... So how about Vasily-kun, we are in Japan after all."

"That's alright... Now tell me, what is better? Battlefield or Call of duty?"

"Halo?"

"Blasphemy."

The next part of the conversation was just bro to bro, namely discussing which video game was better, or what gun was the best in those titles. It was just basic package of a man. My and his ideas rarely met, but then, it was not really matter because we were just some mortal me trying to relax in the companions of the females.

The dinner was then served, and Kanzashi was sent out to fetch both of us. She just stood… close to me when we walked back. There was no holding hand or hugging, but it was because that both of us were too shy to do anything else. After all, I just met her this morning when I was kidnapped, and going sweet on her now would not be precisely appropriate. Still, she still picked the seat next to be, and she took on the job to pass me the drinks and the food.

The meal, for obvious reason, was filled with teasing aiming at me and her. It was not a problem for me though. Sure, it was quite shy and embarrassing for me, but seeing Kanzashi all flushed up was still amusing somehow. Besides, she was cute and her voice was melodic, quite pleasing for my ears.

After the grilling session (with a lot of teasing and subtle pairing), the five of us finished the dinner. There were only some small talks left, guns and games for the two males (it turned out Mr. Sarashiki enjoyed playing Battlefield, who knows) while the ladies were talking about clothes and stuff. Or only Tatenashi and Mrs. Sarashiki did so, Kanzashi was just staying silent. It was quite strange, but then, I was not exactly a talkative type of guy. With your upbringing and background, I much preferred blending in the scene and watching everyone. The most important reason I talked much earlier was that I wanted to increase my "value" in the eye of Mr. Sarashiki. It was something that all sane male teenagers would do upon meeting their (different-gendered) friend's father.

At least it seemed to pay off quite well, Old Man Vasily (well, I could definitely call him Mr. Vasily, which was grammatically incorrect, or Vasily-kun, which still leaf a strange taste on my mouth) had lost a good deal of hostility toward me, and Mrs. Sarashiki quickly prompts you to go shopping. It was for refilling my wardrobe as she said. Marvellous! It was just in time. I had nothing left to live on…

But why was the Old Man looking at me with pity and contempt?

I was not able to find out the answer quickly enough, but it came soon enough. It was just three minutes after the Sarashiki family arrived at a nearby shopping mall. The two older women instantly shrieked in a very unlady-like manner when they noticed the advertisement for males' clothes discount. The youngest one just eyed the racks and rows of tuxedo suits before glancing back at me and blushing.

I had a complex feeling about this. The Old Man was just walking next to me, sighing and shaking his head. It was as if he was thinking me as a noob, who was heading straight into a trap without realizing it. I had no idea what he meant, even if he had already sat down on a bench and smirked at me. Instantly, I felt two pairs of strong hands on my back, dragging me away. A glanced backwards told me that they belonged to Tatenashi and her Mom, bot…

Hang on, since when they had that much clothes on their hands? Those must be at least ten suits for each of them. Suddenly, flashbacks of the good ol' days returned, then I realized it. Just as my Mom made me into a doll during try-outs, they were planning to do the same to me. And they would do it with sadistic glee and satisfaction.

Oh… shit.

My face remained grey and probably depressed for the next hour so when the two females tried various kinds of clothes on me. Seriously, what was wrong with them? Why could I not have only a few sets of clothes? A few jeans, a dozen-odd T-shirts with a jacket or two would be sufficient for me. But not! They just pushed more and more items on me, from teenager casual, slightly street-punk to the more formal suits. Every set was tested on me and all of my complaints were ignored. It was only until then that I was able to understand the pity of Vasily. Women and shopping would be never put in the same line if us men wanted to live peacefully.

For the T-shirts, I enjoyed having them in simple colors, green or grey would be fine, better if they came with camouflage-like patterns. Thanks to the past year, I was able to live with minimum versatility of my own clothes. However, the two women tested various colors on my body, from white (which could get dirty soon enough) to blue, then red, green and then back… A few colors were used more than once – even if they called it "aqua" instead of "blue" or "cream" instead of "white". For the jeans, well, as it turned out, there is more than one type of jeans… The glee and the giggling coming from them and the employees were unnerving to say the least.

And for certain reasons, that was actually the better part of the night. The less talked about the male underwear section, the better.

At least my wardrobe was re-filled quickly, enough for me to live through the years and then some. Besides, the dreamy expression of Kanzashi watching me trying out the tuxedo suits was incredible, sending butterflies inside me.

Other personal items, including a new phone and a new laptop (with headphones), were also purchased. It seemed that the Sarashiki family was not holding back. In such an upper-middle class shopping mall, they simply rushed their money out like there was no tomorrow. A new laptop, one of the best for students, was bought with all critical and important programs installed. The next part was a trip to the sport center, where various sport equipment was bouth, including dumbbells, nunchaku and some boxing gloves – I really needed to keep myself in good shape. The miscellaneous as well as some "men's stuff" buying finished the shopping spree.

Books were also re-purchased. After all, mine had been burnt off and lost in the kidnapping attempts. Ranging from educational to entertainment, the list was quickly finished by a storm named Kanzashi – somehow, she was very enthusiastic in buy books (may be because she was given a few as rewards?). Still, I had no idea why Tatenashi even puts some Shoujo manga (manga for girls) in my shopping list. She hinted that she wanted me to pay for that, in exchange for her help in conquering her own little sister. But I ignored the subtle message, if bad came to worse, I could use them as bribes in the Academy.

The payment part was quite a problem though. The two old women insisted on paying, saying that the trip was their treat, because I had "saved their wonderful little princess of the family" – their words, not mine. Meanwhile, I would also like to pay, because it was my stuff after all. It was quite an intense discussion, but Vasily was able to intervene soon enough. A compromise was reached in secret: he would pay the bill, I would send half the cost to his account and he would keep his silence about the whole deal.

In short, it was quite a productive trip. All of my purchased items were transferred to Vietnamese Embassy, for temporary safe-keeping, or rather, overnight storage in case there was some Grammar Nazi overlooking my shoulders. From there, I would pick up a trip and travel with them to the IS Academy. I only had two items missing: an Academy uniform and a military uniform.

Well, I could have it checked with Orimura-sensei and the Embassy on the matter, respectively.

The Sarashiki family dropped me at the Vietnamese Embassy, just in time for my purchased items to arrive. The paperwork was done quickly, even if it was quite late already. Apparently, being a VIP had its own perk. My suitcases were quickly stowed away and secured in a compartment in the warehouse. Bidding farewell with the family, I promised the two girls that I would meet them on the way to the Academy tomorrow.

Their car quickly disappeared over the road, leaving me standing in the car park of the Embassy. It was a bit chilly in the night, but it did not bother me in the latest. Now, I had some jobs to do. Unsurprisingly, it was about my own self-protection. Home had given the clear signal for me to be armed, to the teeth was an apt description of their allowance. Still, the paperwork was quite annoying, but with the help of the military attaché, they were filled out quickly enough. Something about being legal and official, they told me. Meh, not my interest.

I was then led to another room, a shooting range to be precise, and I was asked to show my own competency with firearms. It sounded like a joke, asking a veteran and a Commando trainee to show his marksmanship? But well, orders were orders, and I just picked up the guns. It was standard set up with an assault rifle, AK-family, a sub-machine gun and a handgun.

One by one, I picked up each of them, loaded in a fresh magazine and pulled back the bolt. The gun was then raised to my eye level while my feet subconsciously made a stance. The iron sight was then adjusted slightly, pointing straight to the target. Then, the trigger was squeezed and released periodically. Each time, a short burst of two or three was sent away. It was the compromise between the rapid firing rate of an automatic weapon as well as the degree of control. However, being able to do so was easier said than done, and it was said that only the pro could deliver such a performance.

And I was one of those professionals. The recoil was noticeable, but not unmanageable. Controlling the gun and pointing it at the target were now almost a nature of mine. In fact, I barely noticed the bruise on my shoulder any more. It did not take long for me to riddle the targets with holes, all of which laid within the critical lethal zone – heads and torsos. Each shot was enough to take one life – and I must have shot over two hundred rounds of all calibers.

The military attaché, once had my scores checked over, gave me back my sidearm and dagger which had been left at the Embassy for safe-keeping during my evening out. The man then whispered conspiratorially into my ears. The information was highly interesting and absolutely music to my ears. To keep it short, Home wanted to keep their only male IS pilot (a.k.a. me) alive. The first part of the job was to give me a crap ton of gun for self-defence.

Well, there was no "Second Amendment" in Vietnam, but the sentiment of being armed was very much there. However, having a child-soldier walking into a school full of hormonal teenagers sounded like a recipe for disaster. After all, those girls were not exactly known for their self-control or being humble, and I was not precisely regarded as someone who kow-tow to any foreign power.

It appeared that the Academy had already (conveniently) forgotten the fact that they had multiple platforms of Weapon of Mass Destruction in their hands. Well, those suits were not full-on WMDs, but they were considered as "Tactical" WMDs, and in the hands of sufficiently-trained personnel, they would become even more deadly. Therefore, what could possibly a few guns do? Tickling the suits?

Yeah, it would be the reason why the Japanese government and the IS Academy accepted me being armed.

The attached led me into the basement, where a room (which was probably not shown on any design plan) was located with an electronic lock. The code was surprisingly simple, just 9999. As the man said, it was so simple that no one would even consider it. Well, I just had to trust in his word then. Opening the door, there was nothing but pitch black inside. Or at least, that was all I saw before the switch was flipped on.

And when the man did that… Well…

I just had a single thought in my mind, watching the scene unfolding right in front of my eyes. Most of my coherent thoughts were effectively forced into stopping.

Holy fuck!

That was a crap ton of gun! The room was about ten meters wide, five in depth and three in height, and it was filled to the brim with guns. The amount of ordnance there was even more than enough to fully equip a front line infantry platoon, and then some. Heck, there were even some anti-tank weapons there. Their number was low, insufficient to make sure a platoon had sufficient anti-armour power. However, it seemed that this arsenal was made with anti-personnel task in mind and not anti-vehicle. For that end, it was more capable than enough.

But seriously, there was one thing I did not understand – why the hell did they need that much of firepower for an Embassy?

May be it was connected to the terrorist strike on Russian Embassy in Philippines years ago. Poor Islamic States' terrorists just fucked with the wrong country…

Any how, the room was literally filled with guns, which meant I had probably giggled and smooched my face on the guns. I only recovered when I heard someone coughing behind me. Well, everyone had their own moments, right?

 _"So, what do you take? And please don't take the heavy-grade weapon like machine gun or sniper rifles, those are for the defense of the Embassy."_

"Why do you need this many toys to defense? Who would attack an Embassy of a foreign nation?"

"You'll be surprised, really. But still, pick up some weapons, High Command gives a note that they prefer you to have some concealable weapon, not some kind of Eff-yeah."

"Any Glocks?"

"Psst. Glocks? Please, there are guns, and there are Glocks, the first ones are made for kill, the latter for those pussy Americans feel safe. The real men, American included, use better stuff."

Pointed, it was a joke about American sentiment with guns. It was just a joke, not totally correct, but it still had a grain of truth there.

I spent the next thirty minutes there to pick up a load out for me. The guns were disassembled and then re-assembled, giving me the chance to test out the ease in maintenance (or rather, the opposite direction). They were then picked up and handled, the balance of the guns was very important after all. It affected heavily the accuracy and the handling during firefights, and in another word, between lives and deaths. After sufficient time with the guns, I was able to secure enough firepower for self-defence. Securing them in concealed areas and signing paperwork, I bided the Embassy a good night... One more job to do...

The Brunhilde herself was waiting for me at the main gate of the Embassy. She just signaled me with her head to get into the car, and you comply. I had promised her a frank talk tonight after all.

Her car was a sedan-type, with four seats inside, configured to fit the uses of a standard family. There was little decoration inside, but it seemed the car had been used for quite a long time. Sitting in the shotgun, I watched the scenes passing by outside of the window. (Ms.) Orimura just kept her focus on driving, though I was pretty sure that she was still on some alert regarding me. Well, at least he road was fairly empty at the moment, giving me the chance to start the talk with her.

"So, Orimura-sensei, what do you want to know?"

And that began a set of vigorous questioning, she wanted to know everything about the kidnap, including if I had smelled anything there. The scene somehow became funny and ridicuolous, with two perfectly-straight faces sitting perfectly-still in the car exchanging words. Their tones did not change, their faces did not waver. They just kept things perfectly fine and normal - though their story was anything but.

Yep, somehow I was able to keep my face straight and my voice calm when talking to one of the most powerful women currently living on Earth. No pressure, really...

"Nguyen-kun, thanks for your help. Look like my brother has given you some troubles. I'm wholeheartedly apologise for that."

"Don't worry Orimura-sensei, he is not that bad... He fares better than he should be. The whole ordeal is more than enough to prove that he is a great young man. He was afraid, yes, but he did not let it take control. Compared to me, he is greater than an average teenager."

"Really?"

"Yes, the first time I got stuck in... something a bit more terrible, I couldn't move or think properly..."

"At least you have come a long way from that."

"Correct. Speaking of which, do you mind if I train your brother? Give him a better shape and stronger punches, so to speak."

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because once I start, I don't plan to hold back. I'm gonna put him through a whole new ordeal. He can and will pass it, as long as he wants to."

"Accepted, but... be gentle please. He is still growing up."

I was pretty sure that for a very brief moment, her face got softer and she made a small smile on her lips. It was very quick, but my brain kept nagging on it. Well, it was interesting, but not critical. Still, I could investigate that later, of course. The Brunhilde was not that different from a normal person, she still had a soft spot for someone else in her heart. In this case, it was her brother.

However, unlike a normal person, she could personally deal with anyone meant harm to her brother. I shudder to imagine what kind of fate awaiting that unlucky poor soul.

"I'll keep that in my heart Orimura-sensei."

"Thanks."

"But... Orimura-sensei, do you mind if I ask you a bit?"

"Go ahead."

"Can you give me some tips on controlling an IS? You are one of the best, if not the best, pilot. And I prefer having the best grilling me into something better."

"Interesting. Hmm, so what do you want to know first?"

A long talk with the Brunhilde herself revealed many ideas about IS that were previously unknown to me. Different misconceptions were also cleared out, helping me to visualize the operation better. Orimura-sensei seemed really enjoy teaching about IS. She did not even stop talking even when the car stopped at her house.

The talk even dragged on a while longer, it did not stop until midnight – she was that enthusiastic about teaching IS Combat. It was a pity that it was late in the night, I would not be too surprised if she dragged me out and forced me to practice the skills immediately, given the chance, of course. I spent the sleep on the couch in the living room, slowly regaining the strength sapped away by the ordeals.

To think this was just the first day here, I was kidnapped by a bunch of criminals, then I busted myself out with two teenagers, chatted up with the bosses and then had enough firepower to tear down a full house… Yeah, I wondered what could possibly happen next…


	7. Chapter 7: First impression

**Neonlyphe:** Thank you for your comment. I'm planning to have the father as a voice of reason in my fic. In fact, while this has not been written down in the quest yet, the man is extremely dangerous (remember, he is an ex-Spetnaz with callsign _Stalinium-1_ ). The relationship between the MC and Chifuyu will be very... strange... No spoilers though, but you can search for the quest on Space Battles and/or Sufficient Velocity to read.

 **thelonelylobstr** **:** Along with Khorne and Slannesh. Yes. Don't worry, the God-Emperor is with us.

 **Artyom-Dreizhen:** Thanks for your review. I think that the mess up of pronounces (you and I) is due to the original format as a quest. I may have missed a few ones during the rewritten process. In order to fix that, I have spent more effort in dealing with this new chapter. Hope it is free of such mistake.

* * *

 **First impression is everything**

* * *

I woke up fairly early on the next morning, at zero-six-hundred, or 6am for the ones not living in the military. It was mostly due to my sheer habit, or rather, the one beaten into me during the Commando selection. Rolling down from the couch, I immediately cleaned and made it, then followed up with a mini work out session. It was not much, just enough to warm up my joints and prep me for the day, may be release a bit of sweat too. The whole process was fairly mundane and un-original, I relied more on tried and tested methods than to inventing my own, but they were good enough for me in this situation.

Besides, it was light enough, ten-ten-ten, ten push-ups, ten body-weight squats and ten sit-ups. That was for one combo after warm up, and I took three of them, and I also threw it a few set of ghost punching and striking, just for the sake if it. For a normal teenager, that was some pretty heavy training, enough to turn them into a breathing heap of flesh. But for me, it was pretty much a walk in the park, taking me just half an hour. After the last strike was done, I forcefully breathed out and relaxed, calming my heart rate down and swiping the sweat on the forehead with the sleeve of my T-shirt.

It was just in time for me to feel a presence behind me, just around the corner. A shadow was casted on the ground was a real indentification… Who could that possibly be? Hmmm… Ichika was probably still sleeping, waking up at 6:30 was a nightmare for every student after all. Besides, with the day before being drained emotionally, the boy would love to enjoy a few more minutes of shut-in. Therefore, the other suspect was much more highly likely, Chifuyu, the freaking Brunhilde. Heh, it gotta be her, she was still curious and inquisitive about my own past, and watching me would be a good way to find the answers. A pair of good and well-trained eyes could spot many hidden details in plain sight and then draw up critical conclusions, just like good ol' Sherlock Holmes.

Granted, Chifuyu may not reach that level, yet, but preparation and knowing made up half the victory. And in that case, I should keep the name of "Grey Coat" and the specialization of a Commando for a little while longer.

Of course, there was also a third option for the shadowy figure behind me, which was a thief, or an intruder. However, it was quite unlikely to happen. This is the house of the Brunhilde and the (only) male pilot of Japan, and crashing in for the night was a foreign male IS pilot. The latter two people were kidnapped the day before, and if the Japanese gooks were as good as they should be, they would be securing the area to keep a second kidnap attempt from happening. Sneaking through that much protection would be hard, and in the case someone had been able to do that, I would have been killed already. Considering that I was pretty much alive and kicking, there was no one skilled enough to sneak in last night and... did whatever they wanted.

By the rule of deduction...

"Ms. Orimura?"

She then stepped out, revealing herself in a white track suit. I noticed the sweat rolling down on her forehead and her slightly dampen hair. It looked like she had just taken a run for the morning here. Athletic, she seemed to be.

"Hmm. Not bad. You are an early bird?"

"Yes, ma... sensei. It is quite a habit drilled into me. But... do you mind if I use the bathroom?"

"Help yourself. But be quick. My brother will be awake in... 15 minutes, breakfast will be done in 25. First come, first serve."

"Got that."

I checked the bathroom, which was quite interesting. It was divided into two sections by a opaque glass. The inner part was for showering and tub, along with a toilet seat. Meanwhile, the outer part was the place for a sink and getting dress. Heh, once more, the Jap surprised me in their focus for fine details as well as ergonomics features, no wonder why they had become a major manufacturer and economics powerhouse.

I took a quick hot shower, cleaning away the filthy sweat on my body, and changed into the suit bought the night before. Why the suit and not the military uniform? Well, firstly, the uniform also came with its set of medals and ribbons, the ones I earned through my deeds, which represented deaths and killing. Sure, I had the option of not pinning them on my chest, but in the end, a military uniform would be standing out much, and I dislike that. In addition, the political situation in the Academy was "chaos neutral" (or forcefully neutral), wearing an uniform would show my pledge of allegiance to an external force. Needless to say, it would mean a lot of troubles and hostility. Besides, this particular suit was picked by Kanzashi last night, and it never hurted to earn good grace from a cute girl.

The mineral scent of the shower and shampoo was good, quite manly - though I was pretty sure that they belonged to Ichika. Well, the boy had not waken up yet, so… yeah, I just took the liberty to use them, and I did not use much, just enough. It would be highly impolite and unprofessional to trespass on the host of the Orimura like that. For obvious reasons, I did not use the lavender scent shampoo or shower… Yeah, just let's not going near that topic for a while.

Then, I walked out of the bathroom, fresh, cleaned and groomed. A white shirt and a pair of black trousers were put on my body, the blazer was held in my left bionic arm while the tie was loosely knotted around my neck. The last would need extra handling to make a nice presentation, but it was neither here or now. And for some strange reason, Ms. Orimura was waiting for me right in front of the bathroom door while wearing a business suit. Strange, how did she had enough time to get a change of clothes? Still, that was not important, the most pressing issue was I had to tried not to slip back under my combat stance. For some reason, she unnerved me, and that was before considering that she had been able to sneak under my own radar.

Fucking hell…

I blinked once, then twice:

"Eh? Orimura-sensei? What are you doing here?"

She did not answer me immediately, and scanned me top to bottom instead. Then, she asked her own question, completely ignored my previous line:

"Are you planning to wear this suit to the Academy?"

"Yes, sensei."

"Your tie is loose. It is a terrible tie, by the way."

"... I am fairly inexperienced in that part of fashion. I always asked my roommates to pre-knot it for me."

That part was a truth. I never tied my own knot, in fact, even during the graduation ceremony, I asked my fellow trainees to do that for me. It earned quite a few snickers from the old men. A 17-year-old young man who had braved through a ward and graduated the Commando selection course with distinction failed to tie his own knot. Yeah, I blushed heavily that day and made others laugh even harder… What a time to live.

"Hmmpf. Men."

Then, without speaking anything, she raised her hand up and actually removed my tie away. After re-knotting it into a perfect fashion (even taking my lower height into the account), she put it back on my neck and accidentally (?) invaded my personal space. For some reasons, her lips quirked up after seeing my blushed face. Heh? Why the hell did I have a brief comparison of this situation to one between a husband and his wife?

My eyes glanced down and my nose picked up something. First, it was her light tone skin, which was understood and accepted as "perfect" in the Oriental culture. Her round face and pleasant face expressions simply toped up on that. She was pleasant to watch and to admire, almost on a goddess-like level. The scent of some enjoyable flower reached my nose. I failed to point out precisely the name, but its smell was definitely very nice.

My brain only slammed back into its working mode with a pair of fingers snapping right in front of my eyes. Hang on… Did I just day dreamt about my own fucking future teacher? Well…

Fuck. I knew all those porns and hentai would come back and bite me in the arse. Still, it was hard not to do it, she was just too beautiful and sexy, not to mention the mysterious allure of hers.

At least, the analytical part of my brain was enough to sense some kind of danger in her. It was faint, but my alarm was ringing up… strange…

"Are you done gazing out? Get to the table and wait for breakfast. My brother is making some light breakfast at the moment."

"Aye aye, sensei."

I answered half-jokingly while walking to the dining room, where it was combined/merged with the kitchen. There, Ichika was standing and setting up the table. Apparently, the breakfast was pretty light, just with toasts, cheese, ham, along with some cereal, milk and fruit. There was no heavy-graded protein like eggs or bacons, which was a blasphemy. At least, it was for me… I was used to high dose of meat in the morning. As I was eating on another's table, it would be highly impolite to ask for extra food. Besides, coffee had been served, which was needed so that I could begin the day at the full-female Academy of "tactical weapon of mass destruction". During the time waiting for the breakfast to be served, I sent a message to the Japanese authority, asking for a copy of the After-Action Report. They should have it done within a few hours, if not done already.

I did it just in time to enjoy the breakfast, which was served by the other boy. While there was a very low content of meat, it was tasty enough to begin my day. In addition, the coffee was superb, rich in flavor and aroma, unlike the despicable dilute version of some Western arseholes. Still, I was stopped from taking a second serving by Orimura-sensei, who took the remaining coffee (just enough for my second) for herself. Well, she was the host, she had that right.

May be there was a reason why the breakfast was made light, it was to save time during cleaning up and washing. Ichika quickly collected the dishes and utensils for the sink. Meanwhile, Orimura-sensei began reading some kind of official-looking documents and I played around with my gun holster. It was leather-made and it came with a water gun in the shape of a M1911 handgun – no shite. I had no idea why it was put inside the gun room of the Embassy… Well, they did stash it full of lethal weapon, so questioning their sanity was a bit too late now. However, Orimura-sensei had already noticed my plan to put it on… Needless to say, she kindly asked me to put it away…

Later, with a bit of hair gel, some gums to clear out the smell in my mouth, I put some napkin in my blazer's breast pockets to finish the image. It was done just in time for the ride of the Academy to pick us up. It was a SUV this time, thank the fucking Lord, arriving at the front door and quickly loading in the three passengers. The ride began quickly afterwards. We passed by the Vietnamese Embassy to pick up my belongings (as well as the weapons), then the car ran toward the train station of the Academy. Interestingly enough, it was built within the Tokyo region, not precisely in the center due to threat of traffic jam and high population density, but it was much closer to a suburb area. However, for a metropolis like Tokyo, even a suburb could be described as a small city in its own right.

The car dropped all three of us at a sea-side station. Mixing with the breeze scent of salt was the sound of seagulls. I knew it from the beginning, while there was a direct road connecting the landmass to the Academy (an artificial island in the middle of the sea), most of the students' travel was done via the electrical mono-rail system. Something about keeping the students closed together, it seemed…

Then, I had to pull every suitcase up to the height of the third floor… Dragging them over the stairs was do-able, but it would tire me out and make my clothes crumble as well. It would not be suitable to have them as first impression at the Academy. Therefore, I had no choice but to take the elevator, which seemed to be the idea of the Orimura siblings as well. Stepping on the platform, I noticed a few familiar faces and even more strange ones. The Sarashiki family was bidding each other good bye, and I was damned sure that the elder sister just glanced at me and then grinned like a maniac. A few more girls, scattered around the platform, quickly noticed the presence of the two boys standing next to the Brunhilde, one of who was wearing the uniform of the Academy. They should have drawn their conclusions by now.

Not only them, but all other girls were wearing the uniform of white blazers and short skirts. There were some variations here and there, like red-trimmed coats, blue ribbon tied on the hair or a few white and black leggings, which looked fantastic. Some of them were carrying their suitcases, either they just landed today or they stayed elsewhere for the last few days. It seemed fit, the Academy did not start its new school year until today. I should have been able to join the ceremony yesterday, too bad that the Hatzasuki family had other plans to me.

Fuck them.

Still, a single idea was prevelant, which was there had been no homework. Having them early in the school year, the first day in fact, was terrible. Sure, I had enough mental toughness and knowledge to solve them, but I definitely would not love it.

The train finally arrived and the passengers quickly stepped on. It took little time before the train set off toward its destination. There were quite many people travelling in, but it was not on the crowded level yet. The view of the blue sea quickly showed itself on the other side of the window. The early morning mist was being cleared away by the sun. Some cars were seen speeding on the road along the shore. On the edge of the view was an array of wind turbines being used to provide energy for the Academy itself. Typical Japanese ideal, really, they applied renewable energy when- and wherever they could. It was not like I was downgrading them, but it was highly amusing when back home, my people were still using hydroelectricity and nuclear power. Renewable energy only accounted for 15% of the total energy production, the number here was 80% and more.

However, things quickly turned to a terrible direction. The atmosphere inside the train was changing, it was not hostile, but it was definitely strange. My experience told me that I was a prime target here. If the girls were doubting before, they would be absolutely sure about my ID, world's first male IS pilot. Many girls did not even try to hide their interest, they just kept staring at me. Oh, right, and Tatenashi was grinning while tapping her chin with a paper fan and talking to Kanzashi.

That direction was friendly, and sure as hell, my back was being stared by some hostile. Another girl with Asian-feature, no visible other feature to narrow down her origin, was watching me with a fair dose of hostility. I was pretty sure that I had not messed with anyone since my arrival in Japan, apart from the fiasco with the Hatzasuki. And even in that case, they were the ones striking first. So, why was that strange girl showing hatred toward me? That needed to be answer by some investigation. At least I was confident that could turn the table against her if she wanted to kill me.

It gonna be fun though – note the sarcasms.

Interrupting my thoughts, Orimura-sensei quickly handed my timetable, my room's key card and some other basic items. Well, look like I would be in Class 1-1, or Class 1 of First Year. Normally, Class 1 and 2 were reserves for international students, and on average, the former had a higher quality than the former. The room given to me was numbered 1030, a single, while Ichika had a double room with someone else. I was not sure if I should laugh or cry at that.

Granted, the news about my ability to control an IS was revealed much sooner, which gave the Academy enough time to prepare a room for me only. But it was a bit of a rush in Ichika's case, which meant he had to share a room with a girl. It gonna be fun though, and I should stash some popcorn and soda.

There was quite a while left before we would be arriving at the Academy's train station. And then, it would be forty-five minutes before class began. Enough time for me to think up something to self-introduce me in front of a class full of girls… Probably. While I was still musing over that fact, my phone vibrated slightly, telling me that a new email had arrived. Actually, there were two of them, one from Japanese Special force (or rather, the Department of Defense to be precise), the other from Vietnamese Embassy. Both of them gave me green light to receive their files. By the end of the week, I would have the detailed reports on the event as well as files on critical family members of the Hatzasuki clan. It was much better than what I had hoped for, in fact, I did not even think that they would give me anything. Anyhow, this job was done, therefore, out of sight, out of mind.

The train was still cruising forward at a stable speed on a straight line, and in Physic class, it would be described as "constant velocity", meaning there was no acceleration or deceleration. Therefore, the net force applying on the passengers was zero. In short, I would not have to face any kind of "knee jerk force" that would trip my feet and make me look like an arse in front of a cute girl like Kanzashi.

Heh, I was a Commando trainee, ex-Militia, hardened and decorated combat veteran with a handful of medals, yet, I was still a boy. Therefore, I was still easily affected by hormones and conversation with the other gender. Of course, I could have already picked up the training to become an Intelligence agent, I would have no trouble speaking with girls, but the idea of being a spook unnerved me. Still, there was a silver lining there, being a Commando gave me gut, enough for me to brave the challenge.

Standing up, I approached her place and bidded her welcome:

"Good morning Kanzashi-san, Tatenashi-san, I hope we can have a pleasant school year together."

Well, just start with something neutral and friendly. At the moment, I was kind of in a good grace with the Sarashiki family, there was no reason to screw it up now. I could not be too aggressive and flirty, but I could not afford being too distant and polite… Yeah, I hate being friendzoned…

"Morning Quang Anh-kun. I hope you have a pleasant rest... And oh-ho, is that the suit my sister picked yesterday? You look very classy, just like a gentleman for my cute little sister. Fufufu..."

"Onee-san!"

Well, should I be surprised about that? The part Tatenashi was still in the prank mode and enjoy playing a joke on me, making me blushed. Yeah, I would not mention this to anyone, a bloody hardened hero got _blush_ while talking to the family of the girl he just had a crush on. Yeah, my Commado class would laugh at that as long as they stayed alive. Kanzashi's reaction was also quite unexpected. She was usually a quiet girl, not much a fan of speeches, talks or reactions. However, she just had a major blush forming on her own cheeks too. Coincident? Probably. But I was not very sure what she just glanced to the side with something not quite of glee…

"Er... Thank you Tatenashi-san. I just think this suit will be the fittest for today. My Academy uniform is lost yesterday, and the replacement won't be available until this afternoon."

"Oh... _really_? Fufufu... I get it... Oh, and where is my manners? Please, take a seat Quang Anh-kun. I hope my sister is up to your taste."

I really hoped she did not just invite me to go hanky panky on her sister. Mostly because I did not really want to break the promise with Vasily. Their ex-Spetnaz father was just too much of a challenge to overcome. However, while I was numbly sitting down, Kanzashi had already spoken up:

"Quang Anh-kun, please don't have any funny ideas. My sister is just joking."

OK, that was probably the forth time she was able to read what I was thinking with frightening accuracy. It was almost as if she was a telepathy and capable of that mind-reading trick. She once told me that it was simply deduction, which was more likely to be true. Still, the unnerving accuracy was a migraine for me.

"No, it is not my mind-power."

And I was speechless now. She had definitely read my mind.

"Oh-ho? My sister talks to you in one minute more than she has been talking normally in a week? Oh, do you know that she even..."

"Onee-san!"

Kanzashi raised her voice higher and (much) stronger than the last time. Hmm… Hang on a fucking moment. Did the elder sister just tell me that her sister had spoken to me much more than her entire normal level? Not to mention that she was cut off mid-sentence by the very same little sister. Borrowing a few lines of wisdom of anime (of which accuracy was debatable), it was potentially that Kanzashi had spent a bit too much time on "looking good" and/or talking about me…

Fuck. She had a crush on me?!

OK, breathe trooper. It was not like the end of the world… ish. Yeah, let's not rush in and look like a horny dog for a moment. Lay a siege and study the target first. I was a Commando trainee, not some hot head and inexperienced hormonal teenager.

"Et-to... Can I sit down and talk with..."

"Sure."

I blinked once, then twice… Tatenashi, meanwhile, had already stood up and pushed me down, sitting next to her sister. Heck, I was damned sure that she was trying to knock me off into Kanzashi too, but my stance was too strong to fall or to topple over. The elder sister did not care about it though, her primary objective had been done and she just left for the next carriage, presumable to chat with a friend of her.

However… we, the two teenagers left behind, were not exactly in the most comfortable mood. We just sat there and stayed silent. I was damned sure that someone was watching from behind my back, though it was better to say the whole carriage was doing so. With nearly fifteen minutes left, they gonna kept their eyes on me for the rest of the ride.

So, with that in mind, let's just braved the hell to come.

"So, Kanzashi-san, are you alright?"

"I'm fine..."

"If you are not, just... tell me, and I'll try to help you. Getting kidnapped is a pretty shaken experience... It is alright to be afraid."

"... Personal experience?"

"... Yeah. The War, I call it."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

"... Probably not. It's bad memory. I don't want to... give my friends any new nightmares."

She turned silent after that and started tracing her hand on my bionic arm. The touch was sudden, almost making me flinch. But I was able to suppress it, I had not been a flimsy teenager for a long time already… Besides, flinching would look bad in this case… I thought… It was still awkward as fucked though.

"So, Kanzashi-san, are you ready for a new school year? This is your first year in... high school isn't it?"

"Correct, and you?"

"Same year. Or to be more precise, I repeat my first year."

Not for my lack of progress in education obviously. Home commanded me to do so, something about gathering more intelligence and picking up more knowledge along the way. I was not so sure before, but now I knew that repeating a year would not be that much of a chore, especially when I had sufficient knowledge in the first place and a cute girl going with me.

"You enjoy studying?"

"Not quite. But studying is beneficial for our future. Besides, school is where we can meet and have fun with our friends, so it is not a total loss."

And I wanted to flirt with her, low-key for now. Side effect, obviously, but it did not matter in the end.

"... You say you went to school before... that... So which subject do you study the best at?"

"It's Physics and Math, English and History followed closed by with Chemistry."

"Eh? You are good at Physics? Can you help me? I pre-read the Physics book and I don't have a clue."

Being in the Commando gave me some sort of perception power, allowing me to spot the hidden details in plain view. It would be helpful to spot the traps or the mines on the combat site. Therefore, it did not take much time for me to notice that line was rehearsed somehow. Was there any chance for her to "practice" it before asking me? If so… there was a possibility that she liked me.

Like a crush.

Good… Good… Good. It was marvelous.

"Sure. Just give me a message and I'll be there."

"Oh, thanks. Thank you very much. I don't understand Physics very much."

Her eyes were then shining brightly, like a lake glinting under the sun. The red-brown shade of her eyes was now filled with wonder and joy. Heck, I may or may not do the right thing here. Still, a promise on helping her in Physics homework would be a nice way to increase our mutual affection towards each other, especially when I could practically breaze through them.

"I hope I don't intrude on your free time Quang Anh-kun. I just want to finish my own IS. I can't do that fast enough if my Physics is not good enough."

"Huh? You are building your own IS?"

"Et-to... It is more like I customise an existing Uchigane suit. Building a new suit from scratch is very hard and expensive."

I definitely knew that she was opening a route for me, but she was either too shy or too… afraid to let her emotion shown. Customizing an IS suit was a highly specialized task, going equivalent to an Engineering Bachelor course. Without sufficient Mechatronics (Mechanics and Electronics) knowledge (i.e. Physics), working on the project was impossible. Heck, I had tried that before. Just looking at the technical report of my "Flying Dragon", I had felt the dread already. I stopped after reading 50+ pages fill of texts, numbers and formulas… And to think that I was in the upper end of the educational and talented spectrum at Home, well, Kanzashi must be insanely smart then.

Yet, she was asking for my help in Physics… She was quite good in dropping low-key flirting though. An outsider with insufficient knowledge would not be able to know that, but the boy she was targeting had just enough skill to pick it up.

"You are customising an IS by yourself? Holy christ, you are wonderful."

"But... I'm not good as my onee... I mean my elder sister."

Was that… inferior complex? To be fair, Tatenashi was extremely competent and talented… but even then, what Kanzashi had done was enough for her to lift her head high already. And was it a common feature among above-average intelligent teenagers? They easily suffered from inferior complex and depression. Heck, I had them too, part of the reason why I joined the Commando course last year. It was not a problem if they could maintain their will, but the problem was that I notice a lull in her voice. It was as if she had already lost her will and her drive, which was highly dangerous by and of itself.

Heck, I maintained the idea that losing one's own will was unacceptable. After all, mankind was not exactly known for accepting the faith dealt on them. They just keeping striving and prospering in the face of danger… I had to drag her out of that hell hole, screaming and kicking if necessary.

"Huh?"

The problem, however, was that I was not trained to be a smooth talker. I was trained to be the muscle, the men in black, the fixer, that sort of thing… This was not the first time I had been wondering if I should have picked up the Intelligence training. Sure, they were spooks, but they were still honorable members of the armed forces and they had their own codes, just like me…

"I'm... not worthy of being in the Sarashiki family... You may not know this, but I'm just a replacement, a spare, for my sister, the heir of the family. Everyone will choose her over me. After all, she is more intelligent, more experienced and... perfect. My family say so themselves..."

Kanzashi kept whispering next to me, unknowingly threw me into a quagmire. Private family business was what I hated to mingle in. Still, this was strange. The vibe I had from the Sarashiki elders told me a different tales, they held both of their daughters in equal regards. So was this a mistake in communication… or was this actually something more sinister? Still, I had no time to ponder. When subtle solutions were no longer valid, it was time to bring out the hammer.

And I had no idea what had taken over me, really.

"Bull-fucking-shit. You are Sarashiki Kanzashi, Sarashiki KANZASHI, not Sarashiki Tatenashi, and let me tell you one thing, you are a smart, beautiful and totally wonderful girl, anyone say otherwise is either lying or blind. You are a friend, a comrade of mine, Kanzashi-san, and I don't betray my comrades, I don't degrade my friends and sure as hell I don't think you are inferior to your sister in anyway. You are a brilliant girl, remember that."

I just froze afterward, realizing what I had just said. However, to my contrary, she did not cry or jumped away, she just smile, a faint one, but it was also pleasant, relief, and happy.

"... Thanks Quang Anh-kun. It... It means a lot..."

She said so, and then snuggled a bit closer to me. It was almost as if she was trying to lean on me… To hell with that, she was actually doing so. A soft and warm feeling was collected from my bionic left arm. Thanks to the advance medical technology, I could felt her warm and soft body, even if my arm was not natural any more. My mind almost went overwhelm from that contact. Seventeen years of my life and that was the first time I was that close to a girl. Not that I was complaining, of course.

The remaining part of the ride passed away peacefully enough. Ichika was scolded by his sister for not reading the course book in advance. A girl got made behind me, something about her idol getting married, and another girl complaint about her phone eating too much battery power.

Meanwhile, I just ignored all of those sound and focused on the girl sitting next to me, who was enjoying the warmth from my own body. I had no idea what she was thinking, but if she was the same as me… well, just say we were in the cuddling mood, quite like a pair of cats lazy off in some warm place, really. It was pleasant, which explained why my brother enjoyed doing that with his girlfriend (still, I did not get it, how could he have a girlfriend before me despite being younger?).

Tatenashi came back shortly after that, and instead of welcoming her back, I just raised my eyebrows. I was pretty sure that it sent the wrong message, because she just started grinning. It was not a random grin neither, it was a Cheshire Cat grinning. At least she did not interfere with out cuddling time…

Still, we still had to part way with each other when the train stopped, each of us had our own business to take care of. Quite a chore, really. And she just kind of reminded me that I would meet her back in three and a half hour for lunch, Kanzashi still wanted some cuddling time.

Fine by me, I enjoyed putting her in my embrace and started nibbling her ears… And I thought I should stop reading hentai for a while.

Trying to shake off the empty feeling (had I turned sentiment?), I stashed my suitcases at the reception for safekeeping. The presence of the Brunhilde and some official looking seals on official documents were more than enough to make sure that my belongings were kept safe and secured. Still, I was pretty sure that the receptionist muttering something while staring at me. Well, not my problem for the moment.

I bidded a "see ya again" with the two Orimura siblings. Poor bastard, he had to cram new ideas into his small brain in the few moments left before classes began. The basic book was about 300 pages, and even the shortest and the most concise gist was about 50 already… Poor bastard. He should have learnt them over the past few weeks. Yeah, his own incompetency had taken him down…

Still, I was getting a bit hungry, having no meat or heavy protein for breakfast. Therefore, I had no choice but to picking up some snacks in the canteen. Well, for a high-class Academy, the price was surprisingly low and affordable. Using that fact (and I had quite a lot of money in the bank), I ordered a full baguette (with lots of meat) and coffee to jump-start my combat reflection (no one could know when it came in handy). However, the problem began significantly early.

"What are you doing here arsehole?"

The cashier of the canteen asked me with barely hidden hostility and contempt. Heh, I would not be too surprised if she also had disdain and hatred there. Still, I had yet to walked into classroom and I had already become a victim of sexism? Female supremacy was strong here in Japan… I wondered if I should instigate a nation-wide school brawl here. Those bitches should know fear of a rising mass of men… Meh, Japanese Intelligence would hate my gut (if they had not done that already). So, for now, just play it nice and cool then.

"I'm a student here. Just transfer in, starting from today."

"Liar! Whore-men cannot pilot IS suits!"

"Well. For starter, I'm not a whore-man, and I have yet to meet anyone. For the male IS pilots, there are two of them, one has defeated an IS instructor, granted, with the so-called cheap tricks, while the other totally destroys an IS suit under combat condition with zero experience and training. The news is blazing for quite a while. Under which rock have you been living for the past year? Oh and try to guess which pilot I am."

Nice or not, I was pissed, especially she disgracing my own honour. Slamming fact down her throat was a nice way to do so. Still, I did not linger around to argue with her, or even wait for her mouth to close in the first place. I simply swiped my card to initiate the bank payment, then I walked out without a single glance backward. I considered giving her a middle finger, but it would be counter-productive. Besides, it was against the operational tactics of Commando, which was to strike fast, to hit hard, and GTFO before the enemy was able to recover. Besides, the fresh air outside was much more enjoyable.

Munching the baguette while enjoying the coffee, I took a walk around the Academy, identifying key positions as well as place of interest. My main interest was how to reach the lecture block from the dorm, as well as a few other important sites… Still, there was one thing that I failed to understand: the arena. Heck, it was practically written as "The Arena" – with the capital A – in the school map. Seriously, this was not Ancient Rome where women with little clothes on them battling each other. Though… I did not really mind watching it, hormonal teenager, remember?

Of course, the sight of a boy walking on the ground of a full-female school was hot news. It just took them ten minutes to make a tail behind me or some ambushes along the way. Some of them were quite obvious with the giggles, others were better with just focused and dreamy gazes. At least they had yet to cause me any problem (unlike a certain cashier), so I let them be. Besides, some of them were quite good looking, even if they did not impress me as much as Kanzashi. Still, so far, I had talked to her only, so that was a bit biased.

I would be only a matter of time before I deal with them, but it was better to do so after critical jobs had been sorted out already. Meh, I checked my watch… it seemed I should start going to the class and cutting off these tails. It should be a nice experience then.

As it turned out, cutting of the tails was easy, but not making new tails was hard. Firstly, I was not the only one arriving at the Academy today. There were over 50 girls arriving, increasing the traffic flux in the Academy and the risk of me being spotted (which happened). Not to mention that among 500+ females here, there were only two males, which made hiding away or being stealthy fairly hard… At least I was able to get to my class without many troubles.

A teacher arrived roughly in the same time as I did. She was a female teacher (obviously) with short dark green hair and quite an… impressive bust. A large-ground brim of glasses was put on, along with a short-sleeved yellow long dress. Still, it was hard to believe that she was a teacher here, she barely looked older than 20, and she give the vibe of being clumsy, easy-to-tease, totally unlike a teacher.

Still, the tradition demanded that I had to respect her, or else. At least, she came along with Ichika in tow. Orimura-sensei was nowhere to be seen. But knowing my luck, she would be somewhere nearby… The teacher then asked me, with a melodic voice, but it was not as nice as Kanzashi, or that it was not fit on her in the first place…

"Are you Mr. Nguyen?"

"Yes, sensei... And do you mind if I call you sensei?"

"Only if I can call you Nguyen-kun, is that alright?"

Well, at least she did not call me Quang Anh-kun among her giggles…

"Sure, thanks for your support, sensei. Oh, and would mind if I want to know your name?"

"Ah, where are my manners? My name is Maya Yamada... But you are also an Asian, so I think it should be Yamada Maya."

"It is nice to meet you Yamada-sensei."

I smiled lightly and extended my hand, which she shook in (while further giggling). Ichika seemed a bit surprised but he kept his silence. Before I had any chance to say anything, the teacher had already dragged me into the classroom while still holding my hand… Well, look like it was the time for me to face Death.

My seat, as fucking usual, was at the front row, right in front of the teacher's desk. Fuck you God. I had been sitting at that arrangement for over nine years consecutively. At that spot, it was virtually impossible to do anything discipline-questionable. The only good news I had was that there was a window on my left, giving me the sight of the school yard.

As soon as the door opened, all residents of the room stopped whatever they were doing and watched the newcomers with undisguised interest and… hunger? Holly shit. Well, I was a boy with fairly good body build, and with a pretty high-class suit on me, they would be highly interested in watching me. At least I had known about his beforehand, saving me from being overwhelmed.

We were the last students of Class 1-1, and immediately after picking our seats, the self-introduction session began. Each girl had about a minute (their own limits, it seemed) for their own small talks, information like names, ages, origins and hobbies were told. I tuned out most of them though, their information were not exactly important or critical. I just needed to remember their names for now.

Ichika's turned soon arrived, and I still remained passive. The guy was neat, just giving his name, his kendo hobby and a few other miscellaneous stuffs. They key part here, however, was that he was able to maintain a straight back and a firm voice. It seemed that despite being roughed up by the kidnapping yesterday, he was able to recover enough, if not doing quite well at the moment. He was also able to answer the questions coming from the girl with ease. Fake sense of ease, obviously. Heck, I knew it because I would do the same. Being able to survive the war did not guarantee my prosperity in high school.

My turn came soon after that. I stood up, adjusted my suit (in front of the chicks, I might add) and walked up to the front of the class. Thanks to an electronic board with the accompanying pen, I was able to write my own name on it. Hard and blocky letters were written down, and I quickly added the Katankana-version of my name down (thanks the Embassy on this one). Then, I just turned around with a prank in mind. I stood straight, slammed my feet together and saluted them. I poured in my own self-confidence, my skills, my merits and my guts there, scaring them a little. My voice boomed in the class room.

"Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nguyen Quang Anh, the surname is Nguyen and my given name is Quang Anh. I'm 17 years old by the end of this month. I'm the first male IS pilot to be officially revealed to the world. In addition, I'm ex-Militia, currently a Junior Officer Cadet, Army branch, on exchange program from Socialist Republic of Vietnam. I enjoy reading and writing. And please don't inquiry about my service record, that is a state's secret. It is a pleasant to get acquaintance with all of you."

I finished and maintained my rigid stance of the salute. While the idea sounded stupid, it was actually a law and code of service. Sure, these girls were not citizens of Vietnam, and I was not required to salute them. However, they did not need to know about that, they just had to know that I was a Junior Officer Cadet. I was here to ace, not to mess around. At least, not entirely.

"Eh... Quang Anh-kun... You don't have to keep the salute..."

"Yamada-sensei, this class has yet to return the salute nor allows me to stand at ease, I have to keep the salute, as required by regulations."

"So... So... how can your sensei do that?"

"You can say _At ease_ _, Cadet_ , Yamada-sensei."

"OK... At ease, Cadet."

I quickly resumed the parade rest stance with two hands kept behind my back. The stance had been drilled into me through countless drills, which made it almost a second nature to me. The questioning session came next, and with countless dead by my hand, this part should be easy enough for me.

I thought.

"Yes, Nohotoke-san?"

A sleepy-looking girl with the sleeves going over her hands by a large margin stood up, asking me in a half-excited and half-sleepy voice. How she manage to do that was beyond me.

"Nguyen-kun, why are you not wearing an uniform from the Academy? And why is Orimura-kun is not neither?"

"We were attacked and kidnapped yesterday on route to the Academy. Our belongings, including our uniform is burnt off and lost, leaving us with the suits as you see today."

Another girl, probably coming from Western Europe if her name was a reliable proof:

"You say you are an ex-militia. What does it mean?"

"Remember the war in my country last year? Good, so you remember, I was on the front those days, I volunteered to fight on the front line, face-to-face with the enemy, to protect my friends, my family and my Motherland. And for the record, those days are terrible memory, I'd rather not to talk about them."

The next question came from a dark-skinned girl, you cannot even guess where she comes from. However, what troubling me the most was not her skin color (I was not a racist), but rather, her question

"Et-to... Do you have a girlfriend?"

Christ...

"No... Not yet."

And then I knew, I had fucked it up. Most of the girls in the class had jumped up and squealed in delight, sending a shiver down on my back. The gazes then sent towards me were now filled with hunger and desire, just like a pack of wolves seeing a big fat deer… It took the teacher considerable effort to calm them down before picking up another one. She came from Asia, Korea probably.

"It is said that you have killed before, is that true?"

The whole class turned deadly silent after that. Noone dared to breathe strongly. Hell, I knew that question was coming, but not like this… Still, getting it out sooner was better. I should have some leverage to keep the hostiles at bay. Better to have and not need it.

"Please clarify that question."

No emotion, no mercy, no forgiveness. I showed them a part of your hardened personality, the part which had no qualm in killing.

"Is it... true that you killed an IS pilot before?"

Fuck you bitch. You asked about the IS pilots and not the mundane soldiers? Fuck you, you arrogant bitch! Still, I had to put this murderous thought away, there were simply too many witnesses here. Killing her and disposing the body would be hard, not to mention that some shark lawyers gonna argue that she had a right to know.

"Yes. To clarify, I have a shared IS kill with seven squad-mates of mine and a full confirmed solo kill on another IS. The first one is WITHOUT an IS suit on my side."

"How!?"

Instead of answering her question, I just grinned, a wicked, cocky, shit-eating grin. So she really wanted to know, eh? Her fright was fairly real, and she seemed a bit agitated. Too bad for her then, I had no duty to do so.

"I can tell you, but the question is whether you are brave enough or not to hear my description. It is quite... messy and bloody m'lady. And as I said earlier, I'd rather not to talk about it for the same reason."

The class turned silent again after that. To be fair, I just shoved a giant bomb in their arse, and anal-lover or not, they must have felt something. Sharing a classroom with someone capable of killing them and being nonchalant was not an easy experience for them. Heh, for me then, it was just Tuesday. It was a part of the plan, really. The girls here were too used to the idea of female supremacy, they needed a wakeup call. They would be the one to decide if it was an easy or a hard one.

I watched the class while they were watching me. I did not even blink, my bionic eyes were designed to withstand prolonged strain like this. Meanwhile, some of the girls had already blinked. This time, the win was mine.

"Brat. What are you doing there? Are you done with your self-introduction?"

A grumpy voice sprang up from the door, dragging everyone away from the eye-staring contest. Yep. It was Orimura-sensei. She wass here at this moment either due to sheer coincident or she had been standing outside for a while and decides to step in just now. It did not matter. Anyway, having she going in was a welcomed sight. I did not really know how to diffuse the bomb and Yamada-sensei seemed... incapable of the same job.

"Orimura-sensei, is your meeting over?"

"Yes, Yamada-sensei. Sorry for leaving the class greeting to you."

Then, the Brunhilde turned to me and said:

"Back to your seat, brat."

Some snickers were heard from the mass below. So, the girls thought I was being humiliated? Please, I did not pass Commando selection for nothing. This was nothing compared to the real humiliation of SERE course.

"Aye aye, ma'am."

In response, I just stood straight and saluted her, my face did not even waver for a single squeeze. It effectively shut down everyone in the room. Because that was the pride of a man, if those girls wanted to serve it cold, and I would eat it when it was frozen, hard.

Surprising everyone, Orimura-sensei just nodded approvingly while smiling… Hang on? Smile? I was not able to analyse that, she had already flicked my forehead, catching me off guard… How could she move so fast?

"Be careful, cadet. Next time, pleas pay proper respect to the teacher, or teachers, even if you are agitated, or else you will have to pay for it."

"Yes, Orimura-sensei."

Waiting for me to return to my seat, she then addressed the whole class:

"Listen everyone, my name is Chifuyu Orimura, your homeroom teacher, Yamada-sensei here is my deputy. In the next three years, we will turn you into functional and beneficial IS personnel for the world."

The class suddenly exploded with cheers and squeals, almost killing my ears...

"Chifuyu-sama! It's really Chifuyu-sama!"

"Please! Orimura-sama, I come all the way from Vladivostok to adore you!"

"Onee-sama, I can die for your sake!"

Fix that, they were not killing my ears, they were killing my soul. Hell... it was only like 9:30am - too early for something like alcohol... Oh, right, this was a high school, there was no alcohol. And how the hell do they get over the dread of you that quickly? Fucking hell… Orimura-sensei was seen grunting next:

"Seriously? Do they put all of the idiots in my class!?"

"ONEE-SAMA!"

"Please! Scold us more!"

"But be elegant while doing so!"

"And be gracious afterwards!"

Oh fuck you all. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you and everyone near you!

I thought that this only existed in manga and anime! The "princess-like" VIP character got a full "circle" of cute girls adoring everything from her. If every day was like this, I should have accepted the offer of being a lab rat... It would be much safer for my own sanity.

The first class then passed without any major incidents. As in "no one dies, no one goes insane, no one is kidnapped and no one has to go to the infirmary", in short "no one is hurt". Of course, we had Ichika got slammed on his desk for calling his sister "Chifuyu-nee" at school or an idiotic girl believes that six months for basic training was "too long".

Things were dealt with in... quick fashion, of course.

The bell quickly rung, signaling the break. Two homeroom teachers quickly left the room while talking. The girls in the class bunched up together and chat animatedly. Ichika... huh? Was he getting out of the class with a girl in tow? A very-developed girl no less?

That was... Fuck. I needed a drink ASAP. It was just the fucking first day!

I did not have much time to rest, the break was just 10 minutes long, rendering you in a confined space. Kanzashi-san had already advised you to talk to others during break - and not her (that was for lunch, if I could arrange the time). Still, I found talking to strangers a bit... cumbersome. I thought I would just take a stretch and a short nap then. While stretching yourself, I heard someone calling me from behind:

"May I have a moment?"

It was an Caucasian girl with light skin tone and long blond hair. She had a blue ribbons tied over her neck and a blue... what was the word again... over her head. They both fit quite nicely with her blue eyes. Oh, and she was called... Ceci... something like that. I forgot her name, but I still remember her rank, British IS Cadet Representative. I vaguely remembered her self-introduction (the part I did not tune out because of her arrogance, at least)

"Sure, no problem."

She suddenly seemed surprised and agitated for some reason:

"Hah? What kind of response is that? You should be honoured to be talked to by a female and a Cadet Representative like me! I am speaking to you, so show me some respect!"

Dafug was that shit? There was a discord between her elegance and her arrogance, or maybe it mesh too well. I felt your brain twitching and starting plotting ways to... physically punish her. All the way from a punch to the face to wiping out my sidearm and blowing her head off.

Fucking bitch.


	8. Chapter 8: Politics 1

**Reviews' responds:**

 **Neonphlyte:** Thank you for your review. I'm just trying to make the whole background makes "more sense" in the general term. The canon is seriously lacking in world-building. Regarding the romance with Kanzashi (and Cecilia), it progresses quite fast. However, _external events_ prevent us (ie: the voters in my original quest) from getting extra girls into the harem - which is a good thing, really.

 **ThatDrocker59:** Thank for your review. You are right in assuming that the protagonist has a spine - he has killed a fuck ton in the background (and he would take new levels of badass in this story). Just imagine that he fights toe-to-toe with some members of the top 20 most physically powerful humans in the quest!universe. And yes, Cecilia will be beaten, like "beat the shit out of her", but not in this chapter... At least, not beat the shit out of her.

* * *

 **Politics (part 1)**

Fuckin' hell. Just… breath, just breath then. I should be calm and mature, not being pompous around here. I would become an officer in the near future, which meant I should not getting worked up over a few slurs. Heck, I had my own training as a sniper, or a marksman at least. If a sniper could not keep his calm under pressure, how could he complete the mission? Well, let's be calm and professional, shall we? Maintain a typical hard-rock face of a military personnel, I accidentally calmed down my own internal rage. During the brief moment of tranquil, I considered my options, my tactics with possible response. Most of them laid within the "peaceful" category, well, most.

And for obvious reasons, snarking back was not a part of that. The British was too well-known for the sarcasm in snarking, and she was the IS Cadet Representative coming from there. It was better not to piss off a hornet nest.

Breath... Take it slow and easy... You are a future officer, you cannot get worked up a few slurs against your identity. Hell, you train as a sniper, if a sniper cannot keep his head cool under pressure, he cannot complete his missions. Let's be calm and professional shall we? Maintaining a hard-rock face, typical of a military personnel, you consider your options, tactics and possible responses. Most of them are within the "peaceful" category. Most.

"Missy, I apology for my own ignorance and laziness, but I have no reason to learn deeply about the IS representatives until recently. Hence, I have no idea about your... position. You have my deepest and most sincere apology for that."

"Heh? But then, you are a man after all, you are not worthy of that knowledge."

The blond just scoffed with her arrogance in both voice in stance. This time, I was damned sure that my left eyebrow just twitched in annoyance. Heh, this girl had no idea how lucky she was. The last bunch of girl insulting my personality was shot, and the bunch before that was hit with a stool in the abdomen. The former was during the war while the latter was during the (in)famous Brawl, both of them was perfectly excusable… but not this time. I could not (legally) hit her or deliver the first strike. So much for peace and order. However, it did not mean that I could not show her the light of her error.

"Nor I have the time to care about that useless information, sweetie. I'd rather use that time to play video games or spend time on online forum reading fan-fictions."

That definitely got her knickers in a twist. Upon hearing that, she just stopped admist of her arrogance and kept staring at me, along with the rest of the class. May be I had overdone it? Meh, there was no over kill, only kill after all. Heck, the Commando class even accepted flamethrowers as a viable solution to pest problem. While there was no standard flamethrower for me that day, I was able to rig one up with a lighter and a spray. That night, I was introduced with the special food of Commando – toasted rats.

Anyway, that was enough nostalgia, let's go back to the problem at hand here.

The blond just stumbled backward, being surprised with my sudden "shadow step" forward as well as my proclaimation. It must be the first time where no one gave a damn about her rank and title, and to think it came from a male whom she despised and ignored about… Yeah, that was a low blow for her. But then, that sweetie did not understand that there was a first for everything. Especially when I was the first male IS pilot being confirmed internationally.

"What?! You imbecile male! You dare? Don't you know who I am?"

"Well, lass, the answer is no. You have not properly introduced yourself yet, have you? This is a new class, everyone will have trouble remembering names of their classmates. Re-introducing oneself's again is a proper attitude and behaviour of someone with proper education."

It shut her up effectively. It seemed that I just nailed bullseye over there. Sure, she could be thinking that she was some kind of elite among the elites. Just thinking about that made me want to scoff. Even as a Commando trainee, I had no desire to proclaim myself as an elite, and to think that I was still a trainee. A trainee with blood and skills, but a trainee nonetheless. Who the hell she think she was?

"Hmpf! So why don't you say it sooner? My name is Cecilia Alcott, an elite student, British IS Cadet Representative, Friend of His Majesty and Captain of the Midlands. Bow before my grace, _man_."

It was starting to get ridiculous though. Among her four ranks and titles, the first was practically useless, being the same as most of the students studying here in the IS Academy, and the last two were just ceremonial and "fake", not an ounce of official power or authority there. Only the second was carrying some power there. However, it also told that she was just a "Cadet", the best IS Cadet in her country for sure, but a cadet nonetheless. The practice was normal, each country usually had one "active" and "official" Cadet Representative on the roster while putting three to four on the "reserves" force. For various reasons, the reserved cadets were usually much more pleasant to talk to compared to the first one.

It was true to my Vietnamese homeland, and it seemed to be true for United Kingdom too.

However, the girl was still speaking to me with voice laced with pride and arrogance. It was dangerous for her. Every time where foreigners forces dared to trample on Vietnamese soil, people and pride, men like me were sent in to silence them, for such was the job of Commando. So, if the blond thought she could cow me, the little girl should think again…

My eyes darted over her bust… _Yeah, maybe not that little._

"So, allow me to re-introduce myself then. My name is Nguyen Quang Anh, Junior Cadet Officer, Heroes of People's Armed forces, Medal of Valour, Second grade, Medal of Military Feat, First grade. And there are probably a few more others. I earn them all with tears, sweat and blood. How do you earn yours? Or are they given without any merits? If that is the case, you have nothing compared to me, and to borrow your phrase, bow before my feats, little girl."

"What? WHAT!? You dare to disrespect me?"

"Yes, I dare. I dare to say so too. You demand respect but you give none? You should review your manner lesson, lady. You believe you are better because you are a Cadet Representative? Please, you should be a National Representative before you can brag about it. You are just a Cadet at the moment, please remember it. You think you are better than me? Please, I have seen hell with my own eyes, I have beat the crap out of the demons with my hands and I have taken down one IS suit with zero training and knowledge. You are not better than me, if yes then not by a large degree and definitely not because I am a man. If I am a man means an easy target for you... you are sorely mistaken. A few made the same mistake as you, and you should feel lucky for those women are all dead."

"What!?"

"You just heard me, lady. And once more time, remember, you are just a Cadet Representative, and I'm pretty sure that Britain has a few of them. Your titles are for ceremonies only and mostly because you are a Cadet Rep already. Heck, even the title of "Captain of the Midlands" is a purely ceremony and honoury title, there is no weight carrying it around. Mine? It is the weight of my deceased comrades, it is the blood I shed to protect my Motherland and the ones I love. There is always a big difference between the ceremony titles and martial ones. The latter are earned, not given, Ms. Alcott, just like respect. And at the moment, you are showing no reason to proving yourself worthy of earning the respect from me."

If there was any public verbal slap, this would be one of them, a prime example. It may sound like overkill, but too bad for her, I believed that there was no such thing called "overkill".

"Furthermore, you are not just disrespecting me, Ms. Alcott, you are disrespecting and dis-honouring the entire Class 1-1 here. Picking up a fight with someone else on first day at school because of your own _sexism_ , and probably racism? That is a very... unfitting for a Cadet Representative."

She was just frozen in her own spot, just like I wanted her to be. Perfect.

"And now, is there anything you want to ask me or tell me?"

"You... you _filthy male!_ "

In retrospect, I could be blamed to that. I deliberately baited her down, or rather, I pissed her back, knowing that she would strike back given the chance. However, it was not the important part. The crucial part was that she was the one striking first. Cecilia dashed forward, quite fast for someone at her age, but it was still within my realm of reflex. She was moving her right arm, either going for a hook or a slap. Still, it was not the important part, I just counter-attacked.

I raised my left arm and bend it next to my ear, covering the side of my head. A slight sting was felt there, she was able to land a blow on my arm, and it seemed the blondie was hurt more than me. To be fair, my replacement arm was made by a combination of composite materials, they were light, but also extremely hard. The reaction force must be heavy for her, causing her to wince.

Before she was able to recover, I had already struck back without mercy, there was no reason to not do so now. My right hand formed a hard fist and then slammed down on her abdomen, it was quickly followed by a left punch on the torso and a right palm knocking her chin up. The combo was finished with my hand grabbing her throat and slamming her down on the table. A yelp coming from her lips was stopped before it was even able to form.

I did not finish though. I kept the pressure on her throat, choking her out for a few more seconds. Then, using the same hand around her neck, I pulled her up before sweeping her feet and slamming her down on the ground. Her back hit the ground first with a heavy THUD – obviously, I avoided her head. Being attacked or not, giving her a head injury was a bit too much. For good measure though, I kneeled next to her and landed a few blows on her chest (which may not be highly effective due to her assets). Putting my forearm in a loose push over her neck, it took all of my control not to jam it down and kill her slowly. At least, I kept my irritation and anger in the snarling form:

"A pity. I hate fighting and hitting, girls or not. Ms. Alcott, I must tell you that you are... unworthy of your titles. I will be honest and blunt. You are prideful and arrogant, you ignore the need and the idea of everyone else, you consider everyone beneath your attention and sight. And that will bring you more harm than good. People do not respect others simply due to the titles, they can have respect toward the ranks and titles, but not the one holding it. Just like me, I respect the title of British IS Cadet Representative, but I have absolutely no respect for the one called Cecilia Alcott. Remember that miss, I can be merciful sometimes, but this world does not. She will crush you under her heels and totally forgets you, simply because you are too arrogant. Remember it, for I shall not have it repeated."

The girl's face turn red, and there were some purple traces over there too. Most likely due to the lack of breathing air though, but being too mad was still a possibility. I kept my gaze on her, but my extended vision and intuition told me that the exchange had already attracted the attention of the whole class as well as some by-standers. Yeah, just first day in school and I had already made myself a well-known and famous figure. Home would be mad about this. Still, they would be even madder if I left a job half-done and half-bake here. The blondie was too arrogant for her own good, not to mention that she was a female supremacist. I had seen enough of such combinations to know about the eventual result. It would be much better if I culled it now, when she was still young enough. Why? Because I had already seen with my own eyes what would happen if such mental thinking survived the teenager stage and became the main stay of the adult phase – shit happened.

"That is your first mistake. The second is your attitude toward me and males in general. So what if we cannot pilot IS? What if we cannot soar through the air in an armoured suit? We will make some for and by ourselves. We have our own sets of skills and talents Ms. Alcott, just like you can pilot an IS. Any supremacist idea is, and will be, a terrible idea. Remember the Middle Age where the Christianity prosecuted anyone who was not a part of them? Or the 20th century with the Aryan supremacy theory? Do you know what they have in common with the current female supremacist view these days? They believe a certain group of people is more worthy to live than the others, and the others, so-called undesirables should either die, get lost or bound in servitude. So, tell me, Ms. Alcott, how many would you disgrace, kill and enslave in the name of your _grace_?"

I may have finished it with a bit too much force on my end. It was borderline a hateful snarl, if not one already. Yeah, damn straight… I had seen those during the war. The petty bitches of my old class, they preached supremacy and then the sacrificed good men to save their hides. They surrendered to the enemy, while not a major legal problem because they were civilians… but the problem was that they worked for the enemy… It was their death penalty.

Of course, I held no ill will against them anymore. After all, I was the one who executed them.

Those were bad memories, if not terrible ones. But… fuck, this was not a time to get lost in the trance. Not the time and not the place.

I glanced down on the girl with a hardened gaze. There was no try or attempt to disguise my hatred and disgust on the British teenager. Who the hell she thought she was? Women made up half of this world, and they fought their way to earn their equal right from early 20th to 21st century. However, the introduction of IS changed it upside down, female equality turned into female supremacy.

Well, shit happened, as usual.

I stood up slowly, my eyes kept locking on the prey. The blondie loudly let out a gasp of relief. To be fair for her, I was just choking her a few moments earlier. For a civilian, such reaction was normal. Assured of her safety, I turned around, preparing to return to my seat…

Just in time for me to feel a pain flared up in the back of my of my left knee, pushing me to the ground, face-first.

It took superior training for me to stop my falling with my hands on the ground, my nose was just a few centimeters off the floor. It was a close call, saved by my reflex alone. Using the strength in the hip and my lower body, I turned back on the knee, just in time to see the girl screaming. I did not sure if it was her anger, defiance or frustration, but I knew that she attacked me with my back against her. For that, she would pay.

I skidded on the ground toward her with a not-so-gentle push from my leg, then, I delivered a combo of punches toward her nose. I held back a little, just enough _not_ to kill her to give her any brain injury, but other than that, I just knocked her out. Her head slammed against the ground with a loud "THUNK", her bodied was loose, just like a puppet having its strings cut, and quickly laid down.

She was still breathing, and that was all I cared after checking it. It meant that she was still alive, probably without any serious potential damage. And I was pretty sure that my punches were not that strong, I held back, after all.

"Tango neutralise."

My sub-consciousness, honed by war and training, gave out the report. Among a silent classroom, it quickly flared up the fear and dread of my classmates. Great, just first day at school and I had already slipped in my soldier persona.

Fuck A awesome, aye?

Sighing out, I picked up the girl, preparing to do some damage control. Taking her to the infirmary would be the first step, the next would be to brave myself for the discipline hearing and the political shitstorm. Seriously, I wished I had studied more about politics, even if unconventional, before. I would be unable to pull out an Udina-move here, I was too Anderson-like for that.

Still…

"Orimura-sensei?"

There was another problem waiting me. It was the woman standing right next to the door frame when I turned back. It was likely that Murphy was balancing my odds after having Kanzashi sitting next to me and hugging me this morning…

I hated that arsehole.

"Report?"

Her voice was clear, crisp and had no room for bullshiting around. Luckily, the same could be spoken about me.

"Conflicting in interest and... social point of view between me and Ms. Alcott sensei. It heats up somewhere along the line and I'm taking her to the infirmary. For the record, I take full responsibility for this situation."

"Ground floor, third on the right. If she is alright, I want both of you be back here in ten minutes, you in five if she is not."

"Yes sensei."

While it was not as good as I had hoped for, it was good enough for the moment. Besides, it could have gone in the worse direction, and from my own experience, it was actually more likely than not.

The next five minutes passed away in a blur. Of course, saying so was quite an exaggeration, I was still able to register the events around me. Shoulder-carrying Cecilia (despite her grumpy attitude and words) like a fire-man, I dashed toward the infirmary at a high speed. While I could have princess-carried her on my arm, but it would cause unnecessary problems, not to mention the situation at hand was problematic enough. And I still wanted to…

Stop. Focus.

The blondie was alright, and it was by the effort from both ends. The most major injury was just a bump at the back of her head, which would heal within a few days at most. Her ego, on the other hand, could not. She was still eyeing me with undisguised hostility, but she was smart enough to keep it for herself only. Clearly, no girl wanted to have her own headed bashed twice within the same hour, especially if the author of which was still carrying a murderous face.

The nurse, who was also a beautiful female in mid-20 with a very sexy cosplay-like suit (just to play with the cliché, I was damned sure about it) cleared Cecilia out quickly enough. Just a bit of light painkiller, some bandages and she was done. Most likely, she was considering about chewing me out, but she seemed to reconsider it after me telling her the short version of the story. Either she feared my own reactions, or she agreed with them. Those ideas were not mattered in the end.

I would be useful if I gave her all the details, but in the end, it would sound like me trying to cover something up, and it was better to leave things as they were.

Then, the two of us, Cecilia and me, went back to the class. Translation: I scooped her up and ran like hell back to class. Orimura Chifugyu gave the vibe of someone I should not mess with, and it appeared that she had been annoyed enough already. The last thing I needed here was giving her ammunition.

And to think this was just the first day at school. Wh… No. I must not follow that line of thought. The day had been terrible enough.

Thanks to my stamina, I arrived at the classroom door just a few minutes later, the blondie draping over my shoulder looked slightly less for wear, but her hair was far from being fizzy. I just simply put her down, ignored her shaken body and opened the door… The enhanced training allowed me to take in a few things at once

One, the whole class turned their heads toward me.

Two, a certain green-hair teacher looked scared and spooked.

Three, Orimura-sensei was standing in front of me.

Four, the said woman was cracking her knuckles.

Yeah, I was fucked. Right?

It seemed that I should be running some damage control here. I just knocked out a student on the first day at school, scratch that, it was just the first hour. Granted, I was attacked first, but to retaliate a stamp with a brutal and efficient take-out, well, it was too much for self-defense. Throw in there how soon the teacher arrived behind my back – and unnoticed too, speaking about it – a political shitstorm was coming, just over the horizon. I should be braving myself for it, really. In fact, I should be running damage control now, if I wanted to stop the rumours before they even spread.

And this was a full-female high school, rumours would spread, no matter what.

Taking a deep breath, I bowed my head slightly. The culture of the Oriental demanded absolute respect toward the teachers (or shit would happen, in theory, at least)… Yeah, first step of damage control: taking the blame.

"Orimura-sensei, Yamada-sensei, I am apology for the mess I created just a while ago. I take full responsibility for my lack of control over my combat skill in non-combat scenarios. I am ready for any discipline punishment that you decide, as long as it is just and follow the school charter."

I then returned to the "parade rest" stance and looked at the two homeroom teachers straight in their eyes. The green-hair teacher was still flushed and kept glancing around, unsure of what she should be doing. She… Stop. I found this part troublesome, somehow, she seemed to be completely unprofessional and incompetent. How the fuck did she become a teacher here? She should be the one being calm and mature, not some kind of busty and blushing teenager.

Meanwhile, opposite to her attitude, Orimura-sensei was still standing there, watching me with her cold hard stare from her brown-black eyes. Her face expression was unreadable. It was as if she was also controlling her emotions, and she was doing a good job there, on par with the spooks. Sure, that part was stereotype, but I was a combat personnel, making jokes with stereotype was expected. With no input on reaction and emotion, I would be unable to make any plan. Heck, she was probably even considering "to hell with it" and give me a stern punishment – I somewhat deserved it, but it did not mean I have to like it.

Oh, and the bloody blondie was still squirming next to me. She looked torn between "harumping" and "howling". Not a problem of mine.

"Does she trigger a memory from the battlefield?"

"More or less ma... sensei. Not precisely the same, the situation and surrounding are also different, but the wording is... pretty much the same. Still, it does not excuse my action.

"On the other hand, she is pretty much alright... Nguyen-san, Alcott-san, I'll overlook this time, no record, no hearing, but next time, there will be appropriate punishments. Understood?"

"Yes, sensei."

"But... But..."

"Do. You. Understand?"

"... Yes, sensei."

It was better than what I hoped for originally. No paperwork, no discipline on the first day at school (I wanted to keep my file clean for university scholarship, thank you very much). So, the biggest problem had been solved, not fully, but I was well-aware that the decision from her was as good as any "final" decision here. Now, with the first front stabilize, it was the time to move on to the second.

That was none other than my classmates, who were still spooked by my brutal execution. It was better to address their worry. Studying in the class where everyone kept staring at my back or keeping an eye on me was not easy at all. Besides, I was a Commando trainee, I preferred some level of incognito. While being one of the only two males here was high-profile enough already, it never hurt to be able to disappear at will or having no one focusing on my own arse.

I walked up to the front of the class, much to the surprise of… pretty much everyone, from Yamada-sensei to the girls at large. Orimura-sensei still had an unreadable face expression. It did not matter, my plan did not rely on any input from her. It only needed some measures of common sense and a firm stance… Kind of… Probably.

I did not bow, no matter how slight, in front of the class. My oaths stood – for as long as I lived, I shall not bow in submission to any foreign power. However, I made it up with sincerity in my voice, or at least, as much sincerity I could muster:

"I would like to apologise for my rush and hot-headed actions regarding Ms. Alcott. I will not find any excuses to run away from my over-reaction and I promise to keep it in check from now on. That is my word, and I will keep it."

The class seemed to relive a bit. Clearly, they were afraid of me being a blood thirsty monster on a killing spree. Well, and with me taking the blame, they worry was alleviated a bit. At least they did not think me as someone who would go berserk or revealing his own demonic power… right?

Still, I had to remind them of a simple and crucial fact: I was baptized in fire and I was trained to kill. Meanwhile, they were not.

"However, please, refrain yourself from any physical assault against myself in the future. I have been trained to properly and quickly counter them in the utmost efficiency possible. Please remember that in such scenarios, I'd usually finishing my counter before my brain is able to catch up with the events. In other words, if there is any attack against me, I may not be able to stop and prevent any lasting injuries."

And as I had already expected and dreaded, someone was butting in here:

"He is trying to say that the next time someone attacks him, no matter how unlikely it seems, she may have to end up in hospital or a morgue. But a hospital is more likely, I don't think he is strong enough for a one-hit kill."

The voice of Orimuras-sensei sprung up right next to me, which was frightening by and of itself. Last time I check, she was at least three meters away from me, right next to the door. How could she dash through that distance without being noticed?

There were two possible answers for this. One, I was too focused on apologizing. Two, she was _that_ good. The first one was unlikely, I was taught and trained to keep watch on my surrounding, so the answer was the second option. It breed problems though… Like, who the fuck she was actually. She must be more than just the Brunhilde, the best IS pilot on the world… Something was missing… Should I even initiate an investigation on her? May be later… I was standing in front of the class here.

"Well, as she just say there…"

Still, the last part was a bit wrong. I knew how to deliver an one-hit kill, in theory at least. Some testings had shown that I was capable of killing a fully grown adult with a single strike. Of course, I had not used it on a real target yet. And in addition, I had only used weapons and booby traps to killed so far… On the other hand, knowing someone capable of killing with a single strike studying in the same class was terrifying. May be the teacher was trying to defuse the bomb before the stuff going kaput? It was quite plausible, and I did not really want to call her out on this.

"And you have no desire to find and create new troubles, do you?"

"No, sensei, I hate fighting and I promise to keep it as infrequently as possible. I still reserve the right to self-defense in the case of being attacked unprovoked though."

"You hear him, ladies, do not mess or attack him, and he will be a wonderful gentleman, strike at him or harm him, and he will be a well-trained officer. That is my advice. Remember it well."

Still, I felt something amiss there. Did she just praise me in front of over twenty female teenagers? And did their eyes just shine like dazzling stars on the sky of night? Heck, I felt a chill creeping down at the back of my spine. Bailing through the window and leaping down like a badass motherfucker seemed to a good way to solve this problem right here.

But it would cause extra unnecessary problems, so I bite down the desire.

Then, I was asked to return to my seat. The blondie then walked past me, for her seat was at the back of my class. She sneered at me, or it could be said that she was just breathing a bit too strong (sarcasm). I just ignored her, no need to further complicate the situation here. Besides, she had been punished enough with my fist, any extra fighting or retaliation would be wasteful. Not to mention that I still had an image to maintain here.

The class quickly settled down, the traces of the agitated mood quickly disappeared, just like my old high school class. Of course, it was only true for a moment, until everything turned upside down. Still, for a short moment, it was enlightening to see something being the same everywhere.

Orimura-sensei quickly took the stage and began the next work on the list. It turned out that schools in both Japan and Vietnam were quite alike in the part of "getting basic stuffs done soon so that we can drown you in a sea of knowledge", and no, it was not bullshiting. A good part of that was introducing the school charter, the Student Council, extra curriculum clubs, two planned vacations (one at hotspring by November, the other at the beach by May), and… Class Representative.

The school charter was simple enough, the gist of that was "do not be a dick", "be a good student", there was little new for me there. Therefore, I just kept a façade of pretending to listen. The real "part" began shortly after that with the introduction of Student Council. For all intent and purpose, the Council acted like a representative body for all students in the Academy. Hell, it could be said that the school provided the infrastructure and teachers, and the Council did the rest. They were responsible to use the fund given by the Academy (which in fact came from the international community… or just the Japanese government) to organize events and trips. Running clubs and maintaining discipline were parts of their jobs too.

In the hands of the un-ruly, the ones lacking self-discipline, that was a prime receipt for disaster (which happened quite frequently in Vietnam to be honest). However, this was Japan, they had been practicing that for years and they knew how to prepare for the worst-case scenarios. In order to join the Council, one had to be a good student: clean file, brilliant scores as well as good social skills. Saying their members were eiltes was not very far from truth. There were even legends about some people in the ranks of God-like, and I would not be too surprised if they were in Goddess-rank here.

Oh, and the current President was Sarashiki Tatenashi. Yeah, _that_ Tatenashi, the one grinning like a maniac seeing me and Kanzashi (ie her younger sister) together. And it seemed that she was also a verified badass when fighting one-to-nine in the first year, and won.

I just felt a headache coming… somehow, some time…

The second part was about the position of Class Representative. She, or he, would represent her (or his) class in the meeting with the Council and plan all class-level activities. The list included, but not limited to, the vacations, trips, school's open days… It was a hard job, and considering the fuck ups I had seen, it was possible for either me or Ichika to receive that burden.

Orimura-sensei said this:

"The Class Representative is a position of both authority and responsibility. This student would have to attend the Student Council meetings when required, as well as coordinate class events during various school events. The Class Representative must, true to the name, also represent us in the Inter-Class Combat Tournament. In return, you're given a small extra stipend, and a free run of Academy's testing facilities."

All things considered, it was not too bad. But I had little interest in that position, mostly due to the potential paperwork. However, I had forgotten that Murphy hated me too.

"Now then, I want candidates. Whether you nominate yourself or someone else doesn't matter."

And hell broke loose the moment she finished...

"I nominate Orimura-kun!"

"Seconded!"

"Third!"

"I call for Nguyen-kun!"

"Nguyen-kun for Class Rep!"

"Good idea!"

"For the officer!"

"For the younger brother of onee-sama!"

Girls, it was just 10 in the morning. It was not late enough to stop drinking coffee but it was definitely too early to drink alcohol, or alcohol with aspirin for that matter. And can you girls stop screaming please? Especially my name? Oh, and what the fuck did you mean about "one-sama"?

The prospect of being a well-fed and well-cared lab rat back home was starting to look good now…

Yamada-sensei then spoke up:

"Well, that is 13 votes for Nguyen-kun so far. With over 50% class member, you've won the election. Congratulation Nguyen-kun!"

Could I change from "congratulation" to a drink please? Probably not then… Still, I still had to repeat, and I really did not want to take this job. Crap.

"Sensei, I don't wa..."

"Be quiet, the one being nominated has no right to refuse, she, or he, must be prepared already."

The cold voice of Orimura-sensei quickly killed all of my hope to refuse the ordeal. Seriously, was that even democracy? At least, I finally understood why some countries were still using a partially authoritarian system – they made sure that the only ones wanted to and had enough talent could hold the position.

"Well, I accepted the responsibility, as long as the objectives and rights are listed clearly. It was quite strange, but then the same could be said for field promotions."

And then, when the class was still surprised with my response, a shrieking voice was heard from the back of the class. I was not even sure if I should feel surprised there:

"What!? I refuse to accept this! Are you telling me that this male monkey will be my Class Representative for a full year? That is disgraceful and shameful! I am coming here to polish my IS skills, not to see and hear him playing around!"

I probably hit her a bit too hard in the head earlier… Or did I hit her not hard enough? I had already started regretting the decision coming here. Slow breath then… Calm down… I promised no violence earlier, and I definitely did not want to break my words. Keep calm… Breathe… Think about food, _phở, bánh mì, xôi lạp xưởng thịt kho, nem rán_...

"Ladies, having a gook, a dink like him leading our class is the utmost shame for a noble women like us! Do you really want a far-east sperm like him leading us?"

...

Fuck that shit. A cracking sound was suddenly heard... Oh. Look like I just snapped a pencil with my thumb only. Good. The cracking sound was heard clearly among a stunned silent class, which meant I was able to attract her attention. Again. This time, I would tell her why messing around was a bad idea.

Especially when her target had little qualm about killing.


	9. Chapter 9: Politics 2

**Hi guys, I'm finally back here. Sorry for the late update. The past few weeks were a bit busy for me - new projects at university, then test... At least I have a bit of downtime this weekend, allowing me to rush the new chapter.**

 **Cecilia finally pushed our protagonist to the edge, and she would pay for that heavily. While this chapter does not detail how severe the physical would take place, there are enough hints for you guys to guess. Or if you have read my quest, you would know the answers - just don't spoil this, please.**

 **On the other hand, there will be _a lot of_ chaos in the future... Both the good and the bad types.**

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 **Reviews' response:**

 **Neonlyphe** : Thank you for your review. To answer your questions, here are my answers: One, there are no major political fall-outs - Sure, there are grumblings, but nothing a few deals could not solve. Two, Tatenashi will not be a part of our harem - the protagonist spends too little time with her to have any meaningful development. However, Chifuyu will be - though we have two close contacts with Death to have that. Charlotte is reserved for Ichika (considering that she is probably the best girl in the canon). It is... pity that the fight will only be online in the second chapter from now, though I promise you it gonna be... explosive.

 **vincentcool72** : Thank you for your review. This story will not be dead though, its author just needs the free time to re-write the original format.

 **Artyom-Dreizehn** : Thank you for your review. I remember the fic you are talking about, it gets recommendation on TvTrope. Too bad, it was dead... Regarding Tabane... she is "not in the fic" at the moment (too busy with her own antics and work), though when she appeared, it will be... strained at best and outright bloody at worst.

 **ThatDrocker59** : Thank you for your review. While there is no slap in this chapter, the lines toward Cecilia are quite sting. Hope you enjoy them. And a bit of spoiler: The OC believes that once words are useless, violence would be useful.

 **H4mmond** : Thank you for your review. I hope you enjoy this update.

 **Hellhammer** : [meme voice] And everyone knows, she fucked up. Too bad that Cecilia has yet to realise her error though...

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I slowly stood up amidst the silence of the whole class before slowly turned to the side. Every girl in the class watched me boring holes into that bratty blond British girl, either they were hoping me _not_ to kill her, or they were banking on the part where I could comfortably draw out her pain…

Of course, they collectively held their breath while I spoke up, probably because of the zero fuck given in my tone of speech. It was restrained hostility, or passive-aggressive…

"Ms. Alcott, do you mind apologising every one here before continuing your rant?"

"Heh? Why? I have done nothing wrong."

Oops. Wrong answer sweetie. She clearly had no idea how much land mine she had triggered… So, at the moment, I had two choices to pick. I could point out her mistake, or I could simply stepped back and watched her getting lynch… Quite a tough choice, really… But being a professional soldier, I knew that I should not stop an enemy from doing something stupid. Therefore, I should let her digging her grave deeper. After all, she had just royally pissed off a lot of people here. Letting her go scot-free would be a great stain, on both of my honour and my service record.

Not to mention that she had just made things personal. And I would be very motivated if things got personal for me.

I smiled, not the warm or cheerful type though, it was a vicious smile, the one I made when I got a target locked down through the scope of my rifle. She was dead meat already. But either she did not know it, or she simply failed to realize it, and there was no chance in hell that I would discard that advantage.

Toning down the viciousness in the smile to cover the hidden blade, I mustered every fiber of sincerity and softness I had left, which were not much, by the way, and asked the oblivious blond girl:

"Interesting, so you think you are better than anyone in this room m'lady?"

"Of course! I am the best here. Cadet Representative, sent straight from the Great Britain and endorsed by His Majesty himself. I am a star, you lot are no one."

Just. As. Fucking. Planned.

She had finished digging her grave here, being completely oblivious with the danger creeping up around her. A quick glance with my enhanced vision allowed me to have an answer. First was the girl with the blessed figure, the very same one who had gone out of class with Ichika earlier (he sure moved fast…). She looked like she was ready to pounce on the Brit. The second was the sleepy girl, right on the blond's left. She was originally sleepy, her eyes were originally closed – now, she was wide awake, sitting upright with her eyes boring holes on her neighbor. Another girl, one I was pretty sure was the one first calling Orimura-sensei "one-sama", was cracking her knuckles.

All of them were prepared for a fight, and I believed the only things kept them from doing so were two in numbered. First, I was still speaking to her, and I should probably have the first dib to bring her down. Second, the one standing behind me was the fucking Brunhilde herself. While she was still silent, it was not that hard to notice the killing intent slipping out. Heck, I was the only thing standing between her and her target at the moment. And I would be more than willing to step aside, if not even joining in for a beat down.

Still, striking back physically would be too much of a chore, especially after I had already punched her right in the face. However, verbal spat was a fair game.

"So, is it the attitude of the British Cadet Representative? She deliberately insults, degrades and dismisses practically her entire class just because they are not white? That is... surprisingly disturbed. But then, after you dimiss me, a man baptised in fire, I am not that surprised. Hmm... I wonder if I should recommend my governments not to make any more business with yours. Last I check, the Britain is showing interest in grain import, and Vietnam is one of the largest grain exporters."

"What? You may create famine in my home country!"

"So you shouldn't insult my homeland from the beginning. Just as a side note, five other major grain exporters are also Asian countries, they may also turn down the deal because of your insult too. Hmm... I wonder if you will be judged "traitor" by your own fellow if such a terrible thing happens."

"What? Are you ready to go to that length to protect your nation's pride?"

"Yes. We are Asians, remember? Motherland, Family and Friend. You mess with any of the three, you will see our wrath and holy furry. We have done it countless times in the past, so much and so frequently that we have already considered fighting for them is normal. That is why I say I shall do whatever it takes to protect my homeland's sovereign and honour, to the last bullet, to the last breath is such comes to shove. And please remember, I have already done it before, and I don't mind doing it all over again."

I knew that there was a fine difference between arrogance and self-confidence: the latter had the skills and feats to back up the claims. And everyone here knew what I had done, I was not boasting, I was merely speaking the truth.

The blondie turned silent, having no come back to counter my point. She was losing rapidly, the initiative was now in my hand. The combat doctrine dictated that I had to press on, keeping pressure on her to prevent her from recovering. Meanwhile, I could also trying to earn some good graces from my classmates, whom were just insulted by her too. They would love to have some paybacks.

"To be honest, Ms. Alcott, you are proving to be incapable of being a Class Representative and leading this class. You may be talented, which I have some serious doubts, but you have no sense of honour and morale. As a wise man from my country once said "Talent without morale is useless". In other word, Ms. Alcott, you are useless as a Class Rep. No, it is not enough, you will do more harm than good in that position, and I mean every single word, Miss."

"What!? You dare?!"

"With all due respect, yes, I dare. Besides, doesn't the line "Who dares wins" come from Britain too?"

"You are not British."

"And your lack of self-control makes me feel lucky and relief that I am not one."

The whole class turned erringly silent after that, watching Cecilia's face for a comeback that never came. Burn, bitch, burn in the rotten fire of hell. She degraded my people, and I would make her country denouncing her. She insulted my homeland and my brethren, I would make sure she had to pay her due price.

The blondie opened her mouth, but no word was able to come out. Well, at least she did try. After all, I just painted her a picture in which she was totally disgraced by everything and everyone. It was a bit extreme, but then, she started it first.

Still, she was able to recover fast enough to deliver some counter-argument. While it was not much, it was still something, suggesting she still had some backbone left in her. Though, her tone of hers was still filed with arrogance, but it was her original image, after all.

"Even so, how skillful are you with the IS? How long have you been training? A week? A month?"

"Full-scale training? One week for basic, I think. I spend the last year to recover from my amputated arm and adapt to my new bionic eyes, and training as a Junior Officer Cadet is way more fun than working around the IS and disrespectful pilot like you."

An eye for an eye, that was one of my mottos. If she could deliver a counter, I must strike back from its flank, then harass and/or block it, neutralizing its danger. That was the rule of the battlefield drilled into my head – both officially, informally and other shits I had little desire to remember. Once more, I was able to shut the naughty Brit bitch up, but calling her a Brit would be an insult to the real ones, like Winston Churchill, Isaac Newton, or Heaven forbidden, John "Mad Jack" Churchill.

Or may be I had set the bar a bit too high. After all, same thing took place in Vietnam. There were good men, wonderful women and there were even the ones better, then there were scumbags that calling them "human" would be a grave insult to the whole society.

And Cecilia was proving herself to be one of that group.

"But it means you have zero experience on IS compared to me! I have been training to pilot a suit for two years as a Cadet Representative already. I am experienced as a pilot, as a soldier. And in a school like IS Academy where we trained to become soldier, I am the best student in this class, therefore, I should be the one leading."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am sure about it. This is the IS Academy, this is where we are trained to become soldiers, this is where we are determined in rank and file. I am the best recruit here, therefore, I should lead."

...

Bloody cunt. She had not been baptized in fire yet, while I had been through hell and back! Had I not sacrificed my own innocence to avenge my family, and protect my friends and my country? She? Had she even done anything above herself for her King and Country? I was pretty sure that she had not. She also had no idea what being a soldier meant. It was never about strength and skills, it was about the will and determination, it was about the discipline and respect, it was about the brotherhood and comradeship.

She had none of that.

I sighed and grunted, in quite a dramatic way. It was mostly to attract her attention (again) while showing my attitude of "why I am still speaking to her" without actually speaking girl out loud.

Girls, buckle up. They thought they were recruits? Fuck 'em, they were not even up to that standard yet.

"Yamada-sensei? Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"H... huh? W... What do you want to know Nguyen-kun?"

"Do we have marching exercises, or military-style parades in the Academy?"

"No?"

"Do we students have to wake up at six in the morning, five if we are unlucky, to march for five kilometres straight with an empty stomach?"

"No."

"Do we have to march through the night with zero sleep?"

"No."

"Do we have to jog ten kilometres with a... 10-kilogram backpack under the sun or under the rain?"

"No."

"Do we have to re-learn how to fold our own blankets and prepare our beds in the proper and efficient way?"

"No."

"Do we, as a class, have to take physical punishments due to the hubris of a single member?"

"NO! This is a school, Nguyen-kun, not a military camp!"

"And I thank you for answering my stupid questions. Do you see it now Ms. Alcott? This is a school, we are here as high school student, preparing ourselves for the university. We are not here to train for soldiers, because let's face it, you won't last for a single day."

"What!? I am..."

"A pilot, a trainee IS pilot, not a soldier. Meanwhile, I am a soldier who has been baptised and forged in the fire of war, and I refuse to acknowledge you as a soldier Ms. Alcott. If you are a soldier, you will just look petty and unprofessional to the real ones. Furthermore, calling you, a racist and a sexist, an arrogant and probably incompetent, a soldier will be a disgrace and insult on the blood I shed, on my comrades' graves and other lives lost. Learn how to respect others first, then I may consider you as a recruit. May is the key word."

"Even so, I am the best IS pilot here!"

"Orimura-sensei will have to... disagree with your claim. Yamada-sensei may have to do the same. I strongly recommend you to choose the next words carefully. And what if you are the best IS pilots among the students here? We are first year for crying out loud. I'm pretty sure that excluding you, me and Orimura-kun, no one has ever been trained fully on IS, and I'm being a bit lenient on myself and Orimura-kun here."

"The Class Rep is meant to lead and required a high aptitude of combat capability. Therefore, either the best fighter takes the responsibility, or we will be in severe disadvantage with other classes!"

"Oh, really? Tell me, did Prime Minister Churchill pick up a Sten SMG and block the advancing Germans in Durnkirk, or did he inspire everyone and keep the country working smoothly in war-time condition? Tell me, did Air Chief Marshall Dowding get into a Spitfire and stop the German Blitz over London, or did he draw up strategies and bring more men and material to the fight? Tell me, did Madame Prime Minister Thatcher storm the Falkland with the Paratroopers, or did she stay in the capital and run the war? Tell me, are they great leaders of Britain? Tell me, do they fight personally, or they lead from the back?"

"Bu... But..."

"A great leader is always more than just a good fighter. Let's take a look at this Class Representative position as an example. Other than competing in the Inter-class tournament, she, or he, also has administrative tasks as Orimura-sensei has pointed out. From major events like the School's Open day or Festival to other mundane every-day activity like dealing with the friction among the students or making sure they are doing their homework. Can a fighter do that well Ms. Alcott?"

The blond was silent now, just staring at me with her eyes opened. She definitely had no come back then. She was now slacking in the retaliation department, which was a grave mistake of hers. Letting others dominating the battlefield was a terrible idea.

Of course, I did not leave the field quiet for long. Being an ex-Militia and an active Commando, I knew the value of exploiting the gains earned on the field. Just be careful to be not over-extended, and then all would be fair.

"The second point is your claim on your ability. As I have said earlier, we are all first year student. We cannot be expected to be fully skilled in the I.S combat. And even then, certainly our rivals wouldn't be any more skilled either. Granted, they can be more skillful than us, but not by a large degree. Defeating them is just hard, not impossible. We don't need a perfect fighter to win, we just need a good team member to compete."

"But I am the only one who defeats an Instructor in the selection examination!"

"I respectfully disagree. I have heard some news, among the first year, you are the only one to win an Instructor with convention means. Well, an Instructor using a first-gen IS suit, tired, hungry and thirsty verse a well-fed, well-rest arrogant girl in a third-gen suit, it still took the girl long enough to win though. Thirty minutes and some serious collateral damage..."

"Wh..."

"Meanwhile, Orimura-kun defeated one in thirty seconds with his wit and basic martial art skills. Zero collateral damage. He was using a second-gen suit verses a third-gen one. Go figure."

"Im..."

"And, don't forget me. I haven't fought against an IS Instructor yet, I simply fought against not one, but two rogue IS pilots in a mortal fight. I'm still alive, they are not. Your response Ms. Alcott?"

That definitely shut her up for good, as in "permanently". The whole class was staring at me though… To be fair, I just proclaimed that I would be able to fight on par with the best pilot in the area – at least, it was not without good reasons. Though in hindsight, it might not be the best idea… But I would leave it to the political and social analysts though. I was a soldier, my job was to make hostile forces stop messing with my country, and nailing the hypocrite was a nice secondary mission.

"Ms. Alcott, you do not want to lead, you want to order. You do not want to inspire them, you want to belittle and insult them. You do not want to offer choices of benefits, you just want to push your harms toward them. You are unworthy leader. You have nothing to offer, nothing to bargain with. You… you are not needed. Period."

I then proceeded to throw my broken pencil, which was still clutched firmly in my hand until then, down to the ground, just like a mic drop. What? It was useless already. A broken pencil could hardly be used anymore. The clanking sound of the pencil quickly jump-started some buzzing sounds in the class.

It was a small whistling at first, coming from somewhere at the back of the class. Then, the air just _exploded_. Almost every single girl in the class was cheering, yelling and clapping. Their voices in combination were quite a threat to my ears, almost making them deaf for a second. Oh, and that was even before I took notice of some war cries being yelled. _Banzai, Hoo-zah, U-rah_ … Yeah, no one said teenagers were normal in the first place.

A loud shriek then pierced through the air, cutting through all of that sounds of celebration. It was quite impressive, I had never ever thought that human was capable of pitching that high. At least, her voice pushed the frequency up enough so that its intensity was fairly low. Sure, her neighbors were temporarily stunned, but my ears were otherwise unaffected. It was standard banshee tactics, and it could be improved further with mega loudspeakers as well as midnight deployment. Of course, it was not recommended when ear protection was unavailable.

"So fight me!"

So she was switching to baiting tactics now? It was a bit… noob.

"Ms. Alcott, fighting is completely prohibited in school. Surely someone at you calibre must know that right?"

My answer ended with loud coughing springing up behind me. Was that Orimura-sensei? Well, maybe someone should get her some syrup… or she was just pranking everyone while trying to hide her laughs. Same thing to me, as in "none of my business".

"Wh... What are you talking about? I am talking about an IS duel! Fight me! Prove your worth to everyone in this class!"

So, why did she not speak that from the beginning then? Typical arrogant noble. She had just completely forgotten that I had already riled her for this: a might warrior did not necessarily mean a good leader. I wonder if I should turn it down. On the one hand, I could prove my consistency, that I despised violence. On the other hand, I was tempted to beat her down and test my suit in battle condition – in the same time.

"So, Nguyen-kun, what do you think? First hour of the field promotion and you have a problem already. Surprise me, brat. Show me your worth."

The cold voice of Orimura-sensei was quickly heard from behind me. It was cold, like ice cold, but I felt like there was some amusement inside. It was as if she was enjoying this immensely. To be fair though, it was a brawl, and a brawl was always fun to watch.

Look like I had to keep her amused though.

"Ms. Alcott, please tell me why I should accept your challenge? You are unsuited for issuing one from the very beginning to speak of."

That was probably a chilled way to answer. Normally, it would be an accept, an agreement to fight – for a noble like her, doing so would be almost like a stereotype, and not doing so would be an insult on her "honor". However, the second was precisely what I was doing. Degrading me just because I was an Asian male? She should feel lucky that I was currently unarmed, and this was a not a hentai world, else I would have retaliated in a gruesome manner. Of course, I had to temporary suppress those ideas, time was of essence here.

"What? You… You…"

"Yes. I dare. I dare to refuse it. A duel against you is a waste. You have proven yourself unsuited, unprepared, uninformed and unwilling to listen and most importantly unable to learn from your mistakes. I have given you a chance to recover from your sexist view, and you squander it with your racist comment. So why should I give you the _third_ chance now?"

Cecilia was definitely going mad. Just a minor push and she would be storming ahead, right into the trap and the countering fire I had already prepared. Her face was getting to a respectable shade of purple while she was having flocks of blond hair. Quite a level of contrast in color here, according to my art teachers, the combination would ruin the setting…

Besides, I preferred the traditional black, exotic platinum or a calming blue for hair color. Blond was too old-school…

And what the fuck did I just think about, really?

Step back. Take a deep breath.

The British blond had been pissed off greatly, probably almost beyond border now. She had yet to jump out of her seat and storm toward me. If it happened, she should be more worried about herself – I could take her down brutally and efficiently before she could even blink. That was assuming that the other girls would not block me and take matter into their own hands.

Heh, poor bitch. It was just the first day here, in the only IS Academy… OK, the only International IS Academy. Just the first day, and she had herself punched and rolled over already. It was due to her own hubris, but it seemed like she was refusing to acknowledge it. It was a total lack of self-discipline, of respect for other as well as of understanding on foreign culture. Heck, she should be taught in the Asian way (read: beating with a stick). It would be painful, but it worked if the child needed valuable lessons in disciplines.

Sure, she was a bit too old for traditional spanking sessions, but a few more slaps on her pride could do the same job as well. Probably. Maybe.

"Because you have yet to prove yourself! You must prove it with your martial skills!"

Great. Combat skill again? What the hell was wrong with this girl? I never thought British was this aggressive. Sure, they were cynical and passive-aggressive, but never getting this bloodthirst. And I wondered if she actually had a goldfish's brain in her skull, I just lectured her on this matter for fuck's sake.

"Ms. Alcott, with all due respect, as I have already told you, great combat and martial skills do not equal a great leader, it takes guts, charisma and intelligence to make one. I have no desire to showcase the skills that I have earned through blood and tears for some petty reasons like this."

"Class Representative is petty reason?"

"Compared to protecting Motherland and the ones I loved? Yes, it seems very mundane and petty. And let me be clear, I have no intention to showcase my skills to a self entitled girl who does not learn from her mistake and goes on to repeat them."

"Wha... What?"

"Tell me, Ms. Alcott, between being a Class Representative in the IS Academy and being a soldier, a British soldier, fighting to protect the Isles, the King and Crown, and to protect the brothers and sisters in arms, what do you choose?"

If the girl wanted to be a soldier, I would give it to her then. A real soldier would always fight to protect what he or she held dear, to the last bullet, to the last breath, to the end if needed. After all, it was the oath sworn by each and every one in the armed and intelligence service. For a Commando like me, we had a code: the last bullet was reserved for ourselves. And like our counterparts in other countries, only a very small fraction had broken the oath, who were all punished severely after that.

What a pity, manly IS pilots failed to uphold that spirit. They believed in their superiority, especially over other male soldiers. They refused to co-operate in training and wargames, which then led to a zero understanding toward conventional forces. Then, they had the _audacity_ to be surprised when the army despised them for being spotty brats, then they even had the _nerve_ to despise the military – just because it was mostly staffed by men.

Female supremacy at its finest. But to be honest, pranking the shit out of them during Commando training was one hell of a hobby. Sneaking in and out, planting smoke and color bombs… yeah, my class had cleaned every single traces of our operation there, and the group of IS pilot trainees still had no clue why (and how) they were splattered with paints when they opened the door.

It was a good time…

And was that a few seconds already? Cecilia had yet to give an answer, had she not?

"Sorry, what do you say? I can hear you reply over your gross level of irresponsibility. You call yourself a soldier, you want to be one yet you cannot answer the most basic question for one? A soldier's most sacred duty is to protect his Country, his People, you fail to answer that, you are proving yourself unfit to be called a soldier, best IS pilot among the students here notwithstanding."

I stared straight into her eyes, boring into her soul, daring her to something. She wanted a soldier attitude? I should give it to her then. A recruited would have to suffer hellish training just to become a soldier. Such a rank could not, and would not, be given out to a spotty brat like her. Really, she should go home and learn, she should stay in her charming and glorious with her parents. She was not worthy to work with me, let alone any standing military on the world.

"You... you... I want to defeat you! I shall earn my rank!"

Unbelieve-fucking-able. She was really un-fucking-cur-fucking-able, was she not?

"Oh!? But sorry. I'm a soldier, why should I give my... adversary any chance to exploit and defeat me?"

"So... fight me! Fight me square and fair! If you are oh-so mighty, why should you be afraid of fighting me?"

Fuck her. I was very annoyed because of her antics now. She definitely had not read any Art of War or any military books for that matter. A fight or a war was usually useless and wasteful. Supreme victory was not about defeating one's enemy in a overwhelming way, but about defeating without resorting to martial means.

But then, she was a girl, an IS pilot, and by stereotype, she would not even touch a single military handbook, let alone reading them. Now, she was paying the price: the whole class seemed to be uniting against her, Orimura-sensei still had the unreadable expression, and Yamada-sensei looked worried and flushed. Still, they were behind my back, which was what I needed.

I briefly considered the situation. Contrary to what an Average Joe thought, war had multiple factors: martial, industry, logistic, manpower… then they were topped up by politics and diplomacy. The last two were fairly important to win on strategic and overall level. It was how Vietnam War was won by the Vietnamese – not by defeating the US Armed forces, but by exhausting their fighting will, forcing them to leave so that we could reunite our country. The gist was simple: remove the enemy's will to fight, disrupt their will to support, and make sure they asked for peace before you did.

The last line was a bit of a stretch, but the idea was simple: politics and diplomacy could be used to break the fighting spirit of the enemy. I was having those advantages now This class was considering me as someone mature and professional, disliking violence though they believed that I would not shy away if there was no choice left. On top of that were the strong sense of loyalty and responsibilities, the ability to keep calm and reasonably friendly to someone hostile… That, and probably I was wearing a classy suit.

"Again, I refuse, Ms. Alcott. You are an insufferable brat at the moment. Your actions are completely unfit and unmatched for a so-called "elite" IS pilot trainee. Please, improve your attitude and come back after two weeks. Then I will consider the... offer."

She hissed, almost like an angry snake. She was standing there, with her hands gripping tightly on the desk, her knuckles had already turned white from the pressure. However, despite her anger, she had no come back, either because she was pissed off beyond wit, or because she was humbled down. The second was quite impossible though.

A few seconds more passed and there was no response answered from the Haughty Brit, I considered the problem as "solved". Of course, there was still one problem left – bureaucratic issues. I should polish my skills in this regards, really. I turned around, facing the most dangerous person in the room – and was she smirking?

"Orimura-sensei, may you confirm on the position of the Class Representative?"

"Brat. You've won it, didn't you?"

"But you have not verified nor confirmed it as the hom..."

"Class? Who agrees to keep this brat as the Class Rerpesentative?"

And then...

A deafening cheer, whistle and squealed exploded in the room. My ears almost went _kaput_ from the sheer pressure alone, they were even unable hear anything for a brief moment. Though… I did hear someone yelling "Please marry me Nguyen-sama!". It was probably the panic mode left over from the kidnapping fiasco yesterday, or the sugar left over from the feast last night with the Sarashiki family…

Anyway, I still needed some coffee for lunch though.

The cold voice of the Brunhilde quickly cut off the cheering and screaming, almost instantly too. And were her lips twitching?

"As the homeroom teacher of Class 1-1, I, Orimura Chifuyu, put Nguyen Quang Anh in charged as the Class Representative due to the majority vote. The decision is effective immediately."

"Well... the responsible are quite clear, I will accept the responsibility. I hope you can assist me in the future in my work, and thanks for your help."

"You're welcomed. So, do you have anything to say to the class?"

Shrugging, I turned around to address the whole class. I kept it nice and tidy though, no need to spice up the troubles anymore.

"Well, as I said earlier, this is quite a sudden, but then again, this is a field promotion, so I'd like to thank you for your trust, despite we just meet today. I hope we can have a success year together. Thank you for your support."

I took another breath… I needed someone to act as my 2IC – second-in-command. While I was totally capable (relatively, of course) of putting up new plans and helping others to study, my wartime memory and military background restricted my interaction severely. Throw in the mix the female supremacy normal attitude, my dislike toward IS pilots and _some_ other factors, it would only be a matter of time before the whole thing blowing up in my face.

Let's be honest here, I was considered as a good guy, but I was definitely not nice. I hated violence, but I would not hesitate to use it when required, and I would be _very competent_ in using force then. I was forced to join the militia (read: conscripted), but somehow, I thrived in the fields of death, even volunteered to stayed and fought while I had the option to retreat (of course, I was planning to stick with my dudes, but that was another story). Now, I was smuggling contraband and highly lethal packages into the schools, where there were a lot of hormonal teenage girls.

Definitely not the stellar example of "nice guy".

On the other hand, I got a read on Ichika, at least a bit more than the others. While I was a Pragmatic Hero at best and a Shell-shocked Veteran at worse, the boy was purely a Paragon Warrior. Ok, the "Warrior" part might be a stretched, but the sheer part of being kidnapped and not shitting his pants was probably suffice. He would be a fine Velvet Glove for my profanity, and he would (or should) be able to diffuse the social bombs before they went for explosion.

And before that, I should lay down some ground rules, just basic human decency… Too bad, Cecilia had already proven that for some of them, even basic respect for others was a foreign concept. It was boring and tedious, but something I still had to do throughoutly.

"I have a few... words to say as the newly-minted Class Representative. First is some ground rule, and second is my... nomination on a Vice-Representative. Rules first. One, all kind of discrimination, from sexism to racism, is unacceptable and outlawed. Two, everyone fights, no one quits. Three, we are a Class, democracy is practiced, but once a decision is reached, I expect everyone to follow it. Fail to follow these rules, and you will have to answer me, and I won't be nice. Three rules above are the basic, I will not write the full set of rules down because a degree of flexibility is still needed. However, I expect everyone to understand and follow their spirits and letters. Any questions?"

...

In response to my question was total silence, but at least those girls were nodding, which meant they had no opposition to it. Fair enough then. Those rules were simple enough to understand and follow. After all, I just showed them two of the three rules, and would not dare to disagree or to show any discomfort. Some of them might still believe in the superiority of the females, and I would clear that belief out of their minds soon. One way or another.

"The second subject is about the Vice-Representative, someone supporting me in running this class more effectively. At the moment, I'm putting it as Interim, or Temporary, Vice-Representative. This student will have... say two weeks of challenge, if the performance is satisfaction, then we have him, or her, as the new VR. If not, then I will be opened to nomination. Now, I fully apologise for this, but I know next to nothing about you girls, therefore, I'm forced to pick Orimura-kun here as my Vice-Representative. He wil..."

"WHAT!?"

Fuck you bitch.

The blondie screamed up (again) and slammed her hands down on the table, _cutting_ my line in the process. She was getting extremely annoying… and I was pretty sure that a fall from the second floor was not lethal. Sure, it would lead to bruises and a lengthy stay in the hospital, but not death. It was personal experience – do not ask. It was a bad experience for me, and it was lucky for her.

"And why do you cut off my talk Ms. Alcott?"

I asked her in a barely restrained voice. I could not dispose her because there were too many witnesses here. The best way to do so was politically and socially, I would leave her digging her own grave, then top in with a bulldozer.

"A man as a Class Representative is enough, but two as the top two leaders? That is blasphemy! Unacceptable!"

"And why is that Ms. Alcott?"

"Because you have not fought to prove your skills."

...

Sometimes, stereotypes were used because they were just so _fucking_ correct. Blonde females were usually stunningly beautiful, but their intelligence and wisdom left much for desire (read: they were stupid). And I had to resist the urge to facepalm or sigh out at the moment. Seriously?

"I just tell you earlier, and I will tell you again. You have proven yourself unsuited, unprepared, uninformed and unwilling to listen and most importantly unable to learn from your mistakes. I've got nothing to prove to a self entitled girl who does not learn from her mistake and goes on to repeat them. Please come back after two weeks."

"You... you coward! You are a soldier! You must accept the offer to duel!"

"A soldier will fight for his country, his family and his friend, and not for some petty reasons."

"You have no skills to prove your worth!"

"On the contrary, I have been able to keep calm and be mature, while you are throwing a giant tantrum like a giant baby."

"You thieving sneaky butt! You have no courage to fight face-to-face!"

"I find nothing wrong with that. It is called pragmatism combat. I suggest you take some military books and familiar yourself with the subject... Ooops, I forget, you have been unable to learn from any books, which suggesting your total lack of respect to your classmates _and_ your teachers."

"You... you... lying bastard! You must have pissed your pants while fighting! Yet you call yourself a soldier?"

"I never deny that. Yes. I _wet my pants_ in my first combat scenario, I _fucking puked_ for a whole day after my first witness of death and another after my first kill. Being a soldier in a war is a nasty business. You should find yourself lucky to live in peace."

"Wha... What? Hah, so your army must be ashamed of you then? Who even wets their pants nowadays?"

"Ask the veterans of war, and you will get surprised, trust me. Everyone gets shocked and scared in the first combat, really."

To be honest, I was barely restrained myself at the moment. Only the discipline and patient I got from the Commando training were able to keep me from doing anything stupid and reckless, like throwing her out of the window. May be ten or twenty times.

"And you just hide away to wash yourself with your pee?"

 _Fuck. You._

Her sweat was now shittier than the shittiest pile of horse dung. I took a deep breath… I was a Commando trainee after all, I could keep calm and motionless while laying right under enemy's nose with nothing but a boxer and a pack of explosive. Losing the calm here would be shitty. And yet, the bitch _kept_ pushing me.

"Your family abandons you don't they? They surely don't want a snotty boy in the family, do they? They must have hate you for your submissive attitude, for your coward as well as your uselessness. Oh, and your so-called "comrades" too. Did they ask you to join, or did they just want some lackeys? Then, they might be some bunch of thieving cowards..."

BONG!

And that was the sound of my patience breaking, or rather, the collision between my bionic fist and the teacher table. I did not even give a shit about the desk anymore, I was too busy staring bullets at the blond bitch. At least, the sharp pain was able to clear up my mind a little bit.

Still, I knew one thing, this bitch was as good as dead. I wanted to avoid this fight, yet she kept pulling me in. And for that, I would burn her, alive if necessary. I would push her to the breaking point, one way to another. If this bitch wanted to fight, I would give her the chance to die under my hand – or rather, humiliated. Killing was forbidden here.

"Please, be quiet. It's a nice way to say Shut up bitch."

I pulled my hand back from the table and spared a second glancing at it. Good, there was no mark, both on the table and on my synthesis hand. Good.

"Orimura-sensei, Yamada-sensei, may I speak freely?"

"Permission granted."

The cold fury in both lines was unmistakenly noticeable. So, cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of war!

My aura may have changed, because Ichika suddenly seemed to be afraid. And he was right in doing so. If the bitch slipped just one step further, she would have to walk out of the Academy in a body bag.

"Ms. Alcott?"

"Yes?!"

She seemed to be slightly disturbed by my change in manner. Good. She still had at least one brain cell left.

"You want an IS duel, don't you?"

"Yes. To..."

"Be quiet!"

"..."

"You want a duel Ms. Alcott, _British IS Cadet Representative_. Fine, I will give it to you. You have started this fight, you are the first the pull out the blade, and by my ancestors' graves and by Heaven's grace, I will finish it, I will be the one to sheathe the blade, not you.

However, you have made more than one crucial mistakes. You not only have challenged my competence to lead and serve, but you have insulted your teachers, many of your fellow students and the very Country where you stand now, and before this you attacked me. And just then, you insulted my deceased family and my deceased comrades. You are now in a major trouble.

In a Military Academy, this would have gotten you an immediate expulsion or multiple weeks in confinement followed by a disciplinary hearing. But, we are not in a Military Academy, even if you want to. Following the same spirit, I, with the authority as _elected_ Class Representative and verified by Orimura-sensei, propose this rule for the upcoming duel. If I lose, I will stand down from my current position as Class Representative, our class will hold a new election to pick up a new leader. But, if the duel results in my victory, you not only will have to give a public apology for your words, but you will also be punished for an ENTIRE MONTH, free days _and_ weekends included, by helping the Service Crew of the Academy when not in class or the minimal needed sleep hours, which is seven hours per day. You will also be banned from any extra-curriculum activities in schools, including clubs and trips, for the full length of the punishment. Let the punishment FIT the CRIMES you have made."

The whole class was stunned. I just threw down my glove as a direct response to her challenge. I (kind of) weaseled out earlier, but this time, I held no barrel. She was screwed, and everyone including her knew it.

Then, Orimura-sensei threw in the checkmate move. It was just _fucking_ good to see the blond's face getting paler by the seconds:

"As your homeroom teacher, I approve this. The duel is a go now, I will finalise the time and place with the two pilots later. In addition, Ms. Alcott, I strongly recommend you to accept this, because there is no other circumstance that I allow you to duel. You can refuse for it is your right, but if it happens, there will be no duel, and I will personally report your actions to the United Kingdom Embassy. _Immediately_ , as in, _right now_. Make your choice, Ms. Alcott."

It seemed that Orimura-sensei was favoring me a bit. But considering that Cecilia was a total bitch, who had also insulted her brother and her country earlier, it was even lucky for the Brit to be alive at the moment. I wondered if I should offer my service to my homeroom teacher to silence the blond.

Nah, it was not beneficial. I just had a fight with her, and having her dead in the next morning would put me in the target sight. It meant… well, paperwork, investigation, and shits like that. I was crazy, but I was not stupid.

Talking about the blond, she was getting purple again. She was seriously considering between two options: to fight and get bulldozered by the only confirmed IS-killer so far, or to wash her hand off and get burnt by her own people. It was quite a tough choice.

"Hah! And she calls our Nguyen-kun a coward!"

"Yeah, when she _is_ the coward."

"Shame on her..."

The class mumbled with each other, dissing the Brit. It was not loud, barely a whisper, but it was shear audible. Contrary to what many students though, the teachers actually knew who were chatting and who were not, they were standing and enjoying a height advantage after all. Those classmates of mine, they were thinking that they were not seen or heard, and they were so wrong. At least, they were supporting my sides, so I was willing to let it slide – for now.

"Fine! I Accept! When..."

"Friday afternoon, after the school, so that you can think about your actions in the weekend. Is that acceptable to you too Orimura-sensei?"

"Accepted. You two meet me after this class, we will discuss more about it."

"Yes, sensei."

"Yes."

The bomb was ticking then. I gave Cecilia a final scoff before sitting down. She bought this unto herself, and I would return the favour she gave me, with interest.

The class passed under heavy atmosphere, with only two people looked completely undisturbed: myself and Orimura-sensei. Both were too hardened to be affected by something this trivial. I had no idea what my teacher had seen, but whatever they were, they ain't good. For myself, I had already braved a full war, in as a citizen, out as a veteran. Some snotty brats here were hardly worth any issue.

Sure, I was not allowed to stalk her and then put a bullet in her brain, but at least I would have the chance to wreck and burn her down, so it was not precisely a great loss.

My brain was splitted into two halves, one listening to the details of the class, the other making plans and scenarios for the duel. I was experienced in warfare, but she had more knowledge in IS piloting and combat. I was brave, but not stupid, I would need to find some angles to increase my success rate here. After all, I needed to punish that bitch.

The class kept going on with more information on the school, the subjects, and timetables, just some basic stuffs which I had already read about in the manual book. The teachers were just re-telling it for the lazy ones, like Ichika… Idiot. Meanwhile, my sixth sense quickly picked up the sign that someone was staring dagger at the back of my head. A discrete move with the screen of my calculator as mirror told me the origin of the stare. There was hardly any surprise here… the Britty Bitch.

I let her keep doing that though, it would be only a matter of time until she saw the bottom of by boots.

The class ended with students pouring out for lunch, and as I was afraid, the news about the Brit and the upcoming duel had already started to spread. I had no strength left to even complain about that, mostly because I was travelling to the Teachers' Office with my homeroom teachers and the Brit for some paperwork.

No one even talked. I just looked straight ahead, my eyes just glanced slightly to watch the girls passing by, analyzing their threat level in the process. Meanwhile, the blond did not even bother to hide her arrogance toward everyone else. It was as if she was literally asking for a brawl in the hallway. At least, the two of you were able to keep it chill until arrival at the desitnation.

Orimura-sensei checked on her computer, and then after a few minutes, she told us the details of the duel. It would be held on Friday after school, at 1630, on Arena number 4. We had to be there 30 minutes prior, minimum, for preparation. Our IS suits were given priority to checked up within the four days, and we would have choice in battleground. The latter part was something new, and I had the feeling it was just a prototype….

To be precise, we had three choices, either the "standard" open sand pit of the Arena, or a new "real" Arena, with complete backgrounds like a real environment. It was expensive as fuck, but it was also highly "real". A few names were listed as potential locations' setting: jungle, urban, artic, dessert, swap…

And as luck had it, Cecilia was stupid enough to give me the choice in battle field. Stupid little girl. Did she have no idea what it meant in the end?

Probably not. After all, she just challenged the _only confirmed_ IS-killer to an IS duel.


	10. Chapter 10: Chill and Intel

**There is no battle scene in this chapter though. In the canon, Ichika took the fight to Cecilia in the same day, while I push it to the end of the week, freeing up some time for the protagonist to mingling around. Therefore, this chapter and the next focus on the fluff and preparation. Consider them as some kind of filler for the storm to come - don't worry, the length of the battle would be worth it (around 10k words)**

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 **Reviews' response:**

 **Artyom-Dreizehn:** Thank you for your review. Though I'm regret to tell you that there is no great battle scene in this update. The cramping, on the other hand, will be there in the next chapter. And our dear protagonist will have a severe fright next time.

 **Tigerboltsniper:** Thank you for your review. Cecilia has justifiable reasons for being arrogance - not without fault, sure, but at least it is more understandable...

 **Neonlyphe:** Thank you for your review. I can assure you, the duel against Cecilia would be _brutal_. The protagonist has little qualm in fighting dirty, and he believed in overkill, not kill. For the Brit, don't worry, she will have quite a character change after the duel - because she used the racist and sexist remarks as a mean to cover her own vulnerability and nothing else. After the duel... well, just say it would be interesting. The situation with Kanzashi for the protagonist would be very fun, I can assure you.

 **UN Peacekeeper:** She will, trust me.

 **dadman9994:** Thank you for your review. I deliberately push Cecilia to a harsh level - just to illustrate the grim reality of the future of female supremacy. The anime and the light novel (canon) do not give a grim enough picture - and I'm a fan of Warhammer 40K. The teachers deliberately leave Cecilia getting on a rant, Yamada-sensei is too "flushy" (in that specific mood) to do anything, and Orimura-sensei is bound by a few (or a dozen) political ties that she could not stop Cecilia from doing so - that, and she notices our hook, line, sinker. Still, I agree that the argument was a bit too long - it is fully due to the original format of this fanfic (a quest). I'm trying to skim and cut on the redundant part in this and the next chapter though.

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 **Chilling and Intel (week 1)**

The surprised look on Cecilia's face was worth its weight in gold. Hell, I would gladly trade half of my money to capture this very moment and put it on my table. May be not that gladly, I was a pragmatic soldier, not an insufferable arse, but the sentiment was the same. She was so shock that I gladly took up the fight, giving her no option to back down at the moment… My voice was also hard and emotionless, giving her one hell of a scare.

Not to mention "that". Of course, whether the girl knew it was another question.

Jungle combat. In the context of modern history, it was one of the ideas that I could be proud of as a Vietnamese. My ancestors had been fighting against a whole bunch of invaders from the jungle, the French, the Japanese, and then the Americans. The jungles provided my people a safe haven as a staging ground. Heck, even the net had already circulated a joke that no one should fight against a Vietnamese in the jungle.

Even if the said context was within an E-sport match. Poor NA server players, the first five minutes and they were all ambushed in the jungle, resulting in a total wipeout…

Anyhow, the stereotype of the Vietnamese was that each and every one of them was a terrifying jungle fighter. We could appear out of nowhere from the jungle, take incredibly accurate shots, and then blend in the jungle to attack from the _other_ end of the jungle before the hostile could realize what the fuck had just happened. It sounded noble, brave, and badass, if not for a single fact.

It was bullshit.

I was a city-dweller, the jungle was as familiar to me as the Russian _Rasputitsa_ to someone living in Moscow for his whole life, or as much as a kid from Oregon state had control over the Death Valley. Read: none at all.

Sure, I had training and experience, I had my wits as a combat engineer, and I had my gut as a militia who had been through hell and back. But I was not some freaking jungle ghost (thank you very much, Holly-fucking-wood). A real jungle, even in late 21st century, was still filled with dangers hidden in plain sight. Insects preyed around every nook to suck our blood if we were lucky enough, or they would infect us with some serious diseases if not. And hell, in certain cases, unexploded ordnances could make anyone's day terrible.

Anyhow, the jungle environment here would be "simulation" only, which meant that while trees and water were available, insects and predators were not. It was a good news… probably. Both Cecilia and I were then given a schematic drawing of the "arena", or rather, the map would be used for us to fight on.

And as it turned out, we were lab rats here (GG teach, GG…). The idea of using real-life terrains was still new in the Academy, most of the teachers were still showing… reservation on the matter. They had the technology to do that – something about quantum and hyperspace storage (like summoning the IS suit) – but the train of thinking was hard to change. Not to mention that the higher echelons preferred the "glorious" shows of combat – Fuck them.

In addition to the schematic drawing, we received a new piece of information: we could book a IS maintenance slot tomorrow, which would be done by school's specialists who were also specialists. Of course, if I wanted, I could put up a request to supervise the process, which would allow me to learn directly from the ones in charge. They were older, more intelligent that I was, and they would be definitely hot and wearing skimpy…

OK, I should stop this line of thought.

Anyhow, supervising the maintenance session could give me double benefits: extending my contact list as well as learning more about the IS suits themselves.

The last part of the meeting with Orimura-sensei was just paperwork. The contenders (ie Cecilia and I) had to sign some papers, saying some agreements that we would accept the outcome of the duel, that we would not use any overt lethal measures… They were just basic ideas, really. It was a pity that I could not find any loopholes, because I really, _really_ , wanted to kill her. Well, maybe I can use the creative methods then, the ones that no IS pilots had the guts and skills to do. That would severely humiliate this Brit bitch, teaching her a lesson for her life.

Then, the two of us were dismissed. We walked towards the canteen together, and it was only due to accidence. We hated each other too much to even share the air now. The girl was tense, ready to jump and pounce on me, and she only stopped doing so because I was totally care-free, which meant one of the two ideas: either I was too oblivious to her anger, or I was totally prepared to dock her again.

Considering that I survived a battlefield for a full month (and some) without any official training, the first option did not sound likely.

Of course, despite that calm façade, I was mad inside. She dared to insult what I held dear, at least she was smart enough to keep silent for now. There was nothing telling her that she would be in one piece after that. The two of us just travelled apart from each other, in parallel, but never ever getting close. Normally, a person would apologise toward the other – but the two pilots here were just to prideful and stubborn to do so.

A few minutes passed, and I quickly noticed the hunger creeping up insides me. Clearly, the meager amount of food I took this morning at Orimura residence was not enough. There were just two slices of bread with jam and butter, no meat or protein, which was not enough for my high rate of metabolism. I needed food, real food, which meant hot chow with some meat inside. And I could hardly wait now.

Increasing my speed, I scoffed at Cecilia (not exactly the politest action though) before dashing away. I was a Commando trainee, and keeping me hungry was definitely not a good idea. The blond was quite surprise, but I had already ran away and had little fuck left to care about her. Besides, I enjoyed this silence – the normal type of silence, not the one before the storm though.

I dashed along the roads, and almost crashed into Kanzashi, who was going in the same direction. Well, almost, I was able to dodged her… but even then, I still stopped, noticing who was having that short aqua-blue hair. Was she alone there? Yep, she was. No one was with her at the moment, some students were going pass her, but none showed any sign of recognition.

"Hey, Kanzashi, are you going to lunch too?"

I gotta asked her, cuz' to be fair, I would love to have lunch with her. Her cute expression was quite potent in keeping my rage down, thanks my upbringing for that. I could be brutal and vindictive, but even then, I would still try my best to look nice in front of good and cute girls (of course, if they ain't good, then I had no need to be nice – ask the traitors for more details).

Besides, I felt the urge to check up on her. Being kidnapped and having to go to school the day after was not easy, especially the schooling part. I hated waking up early in the morning – and the only fucking reason I could get out of bed at six was due to the habit being drilled heavily into me, by both war and training. If I was let loose, well, I could just chill off on the couch until breakfast and spend the entire day surfing on the internet.

"Yes. I'm hungry."

"Do you want to come with me for lunch? My treat."

"Heh?! You want to come with me?"

"Yes. You are... my friend aren't you? Besides... I just want to talk with you."

"About what Quang Anh-kun?"

"Things. Life, study, IS training, ideas like that. So, do you interest?"

"Okay..."

The two of us then walked side-by-side to the canteen at a comfortable pace, neither too slow nor too fast. The blue-haired girl walked right next to me, and thanks to my peripheral sight, I knew that she stole a few occasional glances at me. They were frequently enough to say that she had something on her mind that concerning myself. Well, it could be about the fiasco yesterday where I busted her out, or about the mess up this morning, or both. Well, only one day to find out then.

As it turned out, her day was fine enough, nothing out of ordinary – apart from me getting in a duel against the British Cadet Representative. How did she find out about that? Fuck, the whole deal was finalized less than thirty minutes ago. Or because this was the late twenty-first century, news could spread insanely fast, though the part whether they were truth or the fullest information was not important. Plus, this was a fully-female school (until yesterday), so it is fully expected that the news would spread even faster. With just a good pair of ears, one could pick up enough clues to make a relatively full story, even if it was riddled with holes.

Still, there was one thing I did not get… Why the fuck did I feel a chill creeping down on my back when Kanzashi spoke the last line? It was not exactly on "life-threatening" level, but it was still definitely "shit about to goes down" level. Throw in the tactical WMDs and international politics, it might be much safer to get the fuck out of here.

Too bad, for me, running away was not an option.

Still, let's try to keep the girl calm down. I knew that she was smart, and if she was also vindictive, it would not e good.

"Yeah... That's what I mean when I say I will solve the problem on Friday, after school."

"By an IS duel?"

"She challenges it, despite all of my attempts to solve it peacefully. I was not lucky enough."

That was the moment I knew, I had fucked up. Killing and hateful intent were pouring out of Kazashi, enough to make the hair at the back of my head standing up. Just a spark, and I would be more surprise if she would _not_ torture the Brit.

So… I should calm her down, really. It would not be good to have the school blown up sky high while there were still friendlies or civilians inside. It would cause a casualty too high and a pool of blood too thick.

But really, did she have that much of a crush on me? Or was it something else?

"Easy there, Kanzashi-san, I'm confident that I can win, or I can give her a real challenge if I can't."

My… friend calmed down a bit. She was still pissed, but at least her aura had calmed down somewhat. Strangely enough, her appearance hardly changed any at all. Sure, there were minute changes, eyes squeezed, fists clenched… but nothing major or serious. Only a keen pair of eyes keeping watch over her could notice those.

Kanzashi… she was quite interesting. Just like me, she hid her emotion well behind an emotionless mask. Even with fury raging inside, she was still able to appear and act calmly and maturely. And it was a terrible combination – basis for a good killer, just like me.

She was worried about my upcoming duel, citing my inexperience with the IS suits, and she only calmed down a bit when I said that I would rush training with the teachers. While she was not totally convinced, but she let it slided finally. It looked like she was still mad, or she wanted to say something to me, but then decided not to. I decided not to pry further on her reaction. After all, I just met her the day before. While it looked like I had a crush on her, I was still sane and in control enough to know that pushing hard now would lead to more harm than good. Accurate and precise strikes in combination with a fit tempo was how a battle was won, not simply charging ahead.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the canteen, or as it was called here: "Cafeteria". The two of us stood at the back of the queue, watching over the menu of the day. I picked up a hot bowl of ramen with lots of meat, my body was in dire need of some food. Of course, extra servings with eggs and vegetables never hurt. My balance of calories was quite higher than the norm. As long as my belly was filled, I would not care much about the diet part though.

Things went well enough with the chef. Despite being surprised seeing a male wearing a suit in the Academy, she was still highly professional, just gave me what I ordered for lunch. Sure, she could be just too busy and she was aware of the long line behind my arse, but the end result was still the same. She treated me just like any other students – with efficiency and professionalism. There was nothing out of ordinary.

Of course, it meant that something else was. Two guesses on who…

The fucking cashier earlier this morning, who else? She was annoying, like a pest buzzing around. Heck, the only thing made me thinking so was that my own psyche was so fucked up to notice something that trivia. She should still be worried though, because once let loose, I would _burn her alive_ with a flamethrower. It would be a waste of gasoline though.

I had already knocked out a student this morning, trashed her, and then put a political binding around her without even breaking a sweat. The last thing I wanted for lunch was to have a new female adult lying down unconsciously. I was still pissed though, she was trying to intimidate me – emphasis on "trying". She had to push harder, may be something along the line of pointing a bir-arse gun with definitely-illegal ammunition at a student here. At least, I would have the ground to kill her then.

"No way! You male cannot pilot an IS suit, everyone know that!"

Please, bitch, stop ranting. A headache was inbound to me, and I had been tired and stressed out already. Not to mention that I really hated fighting.

"Yet, Orimura-kun and I are here, and we don't know how we can control an IS."

"You are lying. There is no way you can do that."

"Or should? The point is I did that. Period."

"Y..."

"And can you please hurry up? You are blocking the other students behind me here, and we are all hungry here. You are being highly unprofessional by showing your sexism, is that an approved and encouraged behaviour here? Because I really want to file an official complaint, sue you and have you fired at this very moment."

I said the last part with force and hatred. My face was hardened, being the result of the Brit pissing me off the whole morning. I was angry and hungry, which was a terrible combination. Luckily, she wised up and shut her hell hole down. However, she was mumbling something in Japanese. Now, if I were a Yakuza or shit like that, I would reach over the counter, grab her collar and demand some apology. I was a soldier though, I knew when a battle was won or lost. And now, I was winning, there was no need to lose what I had already gained here.

Then, I moved away without a single glance backward. Dumping any more fuel into the conflict here would do more harm than good, not to mention that the proper and correct way would be filling a complaint to the school. It may take a while, but at least the paperwork would show that I had tried the legally good option (as opposed to questionable and illegal work). The vibe given off by the students behind me was mixed, some were pity and understanding, some with contempt, and there were some definitely sporting smirks on their faces.

So, female supremacy eh? Look like I had to break a few bones on Friday then. It would be recommended to trump the Brit totally, like a curb-stomp battle. It would show anyone who was still in doubt about my skills. Beating the senses into their head individually and personally would be too time-consuming, not to mention that it would be harder to cover up and justify.

I still had more pressing matters to attend to though, like finding a table to have my lunch with Kanzashi. I disliked eating while standing – mostly because my ramen was freaking hot. However, the issue was that all tables had been occupied with students sitting and chatting. It would be very impolite to just bash in without asking.

Besides, I preferred sitting with someone I know. Cranking my neck, I quickly noticed someone was waving her hands at me, or rather, three in this case. One of them was even wearing a blazer with freaking long sleeves while looking sleepy… Yeah, she was a girl from my class. Honne something. I forgot her surname already – my brain simply did not log in the surname and moved to the given name directly. At least it was easy to remember her, who completely stood out. Looking sleepy under the gaze of the freaking Brunhilde? That took guts.

And Kanzashi agreed sharing the table with my new classmates – it seemed she was indifference about me getting to know other girls, so… all was good?

We walked through the rows of table, ignoring the whispers rising up. To be fair, seeing one of the only two males in the school walking with a girl was alarming for them. Heh, but I ain't gonna be some slug of meat for them to feast on. Not that I would _mind_ it, of course, but fuck knew what could _possibly_ happen with sexual tensions. The girls could try the other guy, though they would be discouraged, he was seemingly taken by a very blessed girl.

Speaking of which, where the fuck was Ichika? Was he doing something incredibly stupid or risky? I hope not. He should have enough brain cells to be responsible though. But anyway, as long as he came back to the class in one piece, that was fine to me.

"Hey girls."

"Oh, Nguyen-kun, are you fine?"

"Yeah, everything is done. I will have a duel against her on Friday on the experimental terrain."

"Experimental terrain?"

"Ei, ei, sitttt~ down, sitttt~ down. Tell us, tell us more."

At least Honne sounded just like me when I was sleepy, and definitely with much less cursing and swearing. Though, it pegged an interesting question, why was she sleepy? Or was she even really sleepy in the first place? I knew that she was spooked and wide alert when Cecilia showed her racist line. That bored some serious matters requiring investigation. I put it aside though, there was no immediate risk at the moment. Besides, I was not a spook, I had no desire to dig up the past of my classmates when they had yet to show hostility to me.

Of course, if they did, I would make sure that they were buried underground.

"Eh? Who is this Nguyen-kun?"

"Oh, she? Just take a seat, don't worry. She's Sarashiki Kanzashi, I... know her from yesterday."

"Really? Is she kidnapped too?"

"Yes, by another group and in the same location. I bust her out."

"Wow, really? You are brave Nguyen-kun."

"It's just my job. I'm a Junior Officer Cadet, I've already taken the Oath of Honour, it is my job and duties to make sure the citizens are safe, even if it comes at cost of my life."

I quickly felt something tugging at my blazer from the side, and it was no one other than Kanzashi. She looked afraid and spooked… To be fair, her rescuer just basically told that he was ready to die. It would not be easy on her fragile mental state… I felt a pang rising in my gut, making her worried like that… Still, I was a soldier first and foremost, all other duties were after it.

"You will..."

"If my country asks, I will fight to the end and beyond. But I will not throw away my life foolishly. There is a big difference between bravery and stupidity after all."

I put my hand over the shaking one of Kanzasi, I gotta console her after all. Being a girl, she would be unable to understand my mindset. She was afraid of death, of war, and of losing someone. To be fair, us men were the same, we just knew that it would be better if we fought and bled. Of course, it gonna be sad, and she would be even sadder if she realized the full truth.

The table turned sad and silent after that, mostly due to the girls being spooked by my dedication to the cause. It was quite a choir to explain it fully to them, so I did not. They would be unable to understand fully our conviction to duty and brotherhood.

At least the talk turned brighter after that, thanks to the sleepy head, mostly. She grilled me on my hobby after that, and we exchange our details for a while. As it turned out, these three girls were aiming to become engineers in the field of IS, I was planning to go full career, and Kanzashi still had no firm idea on her future. The last part was quite a pity though, she seemed smart enough to land any job she liked.

The lunch time ended quickly after that with all five standing up and going back to class. The three girls from my class were chatting amicably to each other while Kanzashi and I brought up the rear, with me watching the surrounding. It was just plain habits… and what I saw was not exactly good. Many were looking at me, secretly or not, while commenting (live) in the same time. Based on their behaviors, it may not be something flattering, and I would not be too surprised if they were actually trash-talking me. And that was even before I glanced toward my nine o'clock. The damned cashier was still eyeing my with hatred in her eyes.

Well, it was not like I could ask for everything I wished then… Jesus H. Fuck.

The road back to my class was as I was afraid. It was just filled with ambushes and on-lookers, who kept staring and muttering at me. I did not know what they were mumbling, and I had no wish to actually find out. Besides, there was also another feeling, like someone was watching me. It was hard enough to find out whom on the battlefield, and it got much harder to do here with a lot of distractions and unknowns.

The bad news was that I was made into a spotlight, with both positive and not-so positive comments. The good news was that the remaining part of the school day peacefully, or at least, as peaceful as it could get for a blooded veteran. Ichika was a bit late for the afternoon class, arriving just before the teacher… and his girl with big bust was right behind him. Both of them looked quite flush, so… good news I guessed? Anyhow, the blondie was barely civil to me, she was still civil, but it was not polite to be sure.

But did I drag out the "conversation" this morning a bit too long? I mean, staying out of it and beating some punks later would be better – in hindsight anyway. Still, the damage had been done, no use crying over spilled milk.

At least we were staying out of each other's way. Besides, we would deuce it out on Friday, there was no need to getting pumped up early enough. Not to mention that the day had a pretty light study load, so I really did not enjoy having teachers breathe down on my neck.

Once the class was over, my plan of preparing quickly got into its gear, the first step was to ask Yamada-sensei for some coaching. Some people would call it cheating, for me, it was just sufficient and careful preparation. There was nothing called being redundant for matter like this, I survived the damned war and the training by being careful, not by rushing ahead and getting caught in a trap.

Of course, I could have asked Orimura-sensei, however, she was a melee fighter, all of her previous matches were fought with blades, not guns. It was not a good news for a marksman like me… So, while Yamade-sensei did not give a vibe of a shooter, it was still a better bet than the Brunhilde. She was a teacher here after all, so she must know something about guns, right? There was nothing to lose, after all.

Still, it went wrong easily enough, she fucking got blushed! I had no fucking idea why and how it happened. It was almost as if she was not a mature teacher, but rather an emotional teenager. Fuck, she even blushed when I introduced myself this morning. Was there even a single sane teacher here? Probably not. Then, she even had the dare to ask me why I asked her:

"Heh? Why me? I'm... I'm not really good..."

"For one, sensei, you are my homeroom teacher, so asking you is easier than asking others. Orimura-sensei is also our homeroom teacher, but her style is not fit mine speciality. I'm better at using guns, accuracy and speed are my perks, not melee techniques. So... if you are free... can you coach me on that?"

"Well... today is too urgent. How about tomorrow?"

"I can't sensei, I'll have my IS suit checked. So is Wednesday fine?"

"Eto... It is alright. I'm free on Wednesday afternoon. So... I will see you there?"

"Yes, sensei, thanks for your help."

I bowed slightly, showing some respect before moving away, which made her blush even further. Seriously, what had I done wrong here? Showing respect to teachers was just a normal part of Asian culture.

At least, I had the confirmation, the IS coaching session would be on Wednesday, and the maintenance for tomorrow… Probably intel gathering for tonight – I would need something edge to pin Cecilia down. But first, I needed to unpack first. And considering that I had a _fuck ton_ of gun in my suitcases, I needed to do it personally, _especially_ when the Academy thought I only had pistols… while I had already put automatic weapons inside. In another words, I had contrabands right there. Being found out would _not_ be good.

At least, the seals on my suitcases were the kept, meaning that no one had the gall to tamper with them… It was a good news. Then, I brought it back to my room in a process that would take about fifteen minutes at a slow and steady pace, neither too slow nor too fast. And, unsurprisingly, I was stalked by a few females, by which I meant I was followed by nearly twenty female students, who had tried to look inconspicuous and failed miserably.

I just had no strength left to even scold them, not to mention that I knew it was not gonna work. Speaking of being stalked, I wonder where Ichika was. May be I should sic the girls on him next time? Hopefully, the chicks would not getting pissed at me.

At least, they did not try to step into my room, and there was no one tried to take a peek inside. Well, I arrived at my destination – Room 1030. It was a single room (read: a double room with only one bed inside), enclosed with a bathroom and toilet. It was very spacious and comfortable, borderline on "too" good. Heck, I had seen so much crappy hands that I was overwhelmed by something wonderful…

Well, no time for sentiment though. I had to secure my room first. The first was canning the room, clearing it of any potential bugs (ie listening device). The spectrum scanner installed within my computer on my left bionic arm was very useful for situations like this. It could pick up any electro-magnetic signal (ie radio, wifi, those kinds of stuff) in the room, which there was none. In other word, my room was clear.

Once the result was checked and double-checked, I quickly secured and stashed my guns away. It was a full arsenal of automatic weapons, ranging from SMGs to full assault rifles. The ammunition for them was also plentiful, enough for me to wage a battle (or five) in the Academy and there would still be some of them left.

I spent the rest of the afternoon to see if Kanzashi had made any move on her IS suit, mostly out of curiosity, my own promise to help her, and nothing else. The answer for that question was no. The workshop was still dark and empty, no one was inside. On the other hand, I was able to gleam some details on her IS suit – it seemed that she was trying to upgrade a mass-production, melee-focused, Japan-made, IS suit (called Uchigane) into her own armour. Thanks some idiots leaving the papers scattering around for that.

I leaned on the wall, patiently waiting for her to arrive. Bashing in now would be bad manner, mostly because I would have to pick up my own arse afterwards. Besides, my ears had picked up something, footsteps, light, but fast. Definitely not Ichika… and it was just as I expected, Kanzashi.

She was not exactly surprised seeing me there, but she was quite so when I told her I wanted to help her on the IS suit. She was hesitate, but she finally relented, giving me the place to step in and help her. The light inside was turned on, revealing the machinery. An Uchigane suit was hooked up on a crane with cables pouring out of its joints. There were also a lot of mechanical tools and equipment being stored neatly on the racks on both sides of the room. The image was screaming the scent of clean, efficient and professional. It almost made me salivate at the sheer visual. Well, almost, because there was no gun, explosive or anything like that. Giggling and salivating without them would be… most improper.

The two of us sat in front of the computer and ran some analytic and simulation programs. While I had little engineering knowledge on the IS suit to understand the passing blocks of text, I was able to understand the gist of them – thanks to being used to high-load study, not that I enjoyed that. Still, it was curious to see what kind of suit Kanzashi was building. Mine was a General Model, with focus spent on Adaptation and Mobility, like the French Revival, but with better armour, higher degree of mobility, cheaper and a fuck ton more of weapons.

"So, Kanzashi-san, what kind of configuration do you want to build?"

"Eh? Configuration? What do you mean?"

Huh? She was building her suit! Did she not know about this?

"Well... what kind of "task" do you want your suit to be excel at once it is completed? A melee mode? Artillery with heavy guns? Assault mode with rapid firing weapons?"

"I... I don't know... I haven't thought about it yet..."

Well, it was just fucking marvelous, was it now?

I almost blurted the curse out loud, and only her dislike of swearing stopped me from doing so. But seriously? No plan and she kept pushing forward? It was as if she was asking for troubles right over there… It could be anything, between low ergonomics to incompatible parts. I gotta fix that… Lacking an operational plan was an affront to an elite cadet like me, not to mention that I considered someone to be worthy of my own competition.

"So... what have you been doing for building your suit?"

"I have been upgrading the propulsion system, increasing the processing speed for the central core and improving the missile targeting system."

She was a bit too far ahead, skipping the basic parts. At least there was still enough time for Project Engineering 101.

"Hang on, you are skipping a lot of basic step. If you're keep doing what you're doing now, there is a very high chance that your boosters will go kaput on the first testing, or your core gets malfunctioning, putting you in great risk. And I do not want you to suffer that."

"..."

"So, let's do this. Let's take a step back and review the objective. I have some pen and paper here, go to the table and we will sort things out."

She seemed a bit put off, but still followed my request nevertheless. It was understandable, no one like being told to do something they disliked. It was quite the same as my Commando class… Though we had very good motivation to do them anyway.

"OK, let's take a look, an overall look. What is your... task that you have set to yourself Kanzashi-san?"

"I... I want to build a personal IS suit by myself..."

"... It's about your sister isn't it? You want to be comparable to her?"

"... Yes..."

I just laughed hearing that, a mirth laugh. Fucking siblings, eh? Well, just fucking fix this shit before it got blown to hell and back. I had already (kind of) persuaded her that she was better that she thought she was, but it never hurt to solidify that.

"Do you remember what I told you this morning on the train?"

She blushed heavily at that, and for good reasons, I may have gone a bit overboard there..

"You told me that... that I am... smart and beautiful... and anyone says otherwise is lying."

She missed the dead part. But that was alright. The main idea was kept, even if she was almost mute while speaking it.

"My stance remains unchanged. You are a wonderful girl and capable of great feats. Remember it when you have any trouble comes crashing down."

"Thanks..."

"I have no idea about your sister, but... I... I was just jealous with my younger brother, you know. He... was more athletic than me, more social and more energetic too. I... sometimes I just wished I was as good as him..."

She may have already noticed my usage of the past tense there, and wisely did not push the matter. Even if I had been able to come to terms with it, the memory was still… harsh.

"But enough of the depressing subjects, let's get back to our work here. So, you want to build a personal suit for yourself, preferably with a major personal participation. Do not say by yourself, even just customising an IS suit is a heavy work load, let alone for first year student. Am I correct so far?"

"Yes..."

"So, second step, make a plan and be SMART, with capital letters, all of them. Be Specific, be Measurable, be Achievable, be Realistic and be Timely. The plan will be step-by-step, Define, Measure, Analyse, Develop and Verify. Any question?"

"No... Not really."

"If you have any, just ask me, alright? Now, let's go over your idea again. Be Specific, what kind of configuration do you want to have? What kind of position do you like to do, so to speak?"

"... I don't know... But I'm not interested in closed-range combat... So a long-range suit would be nice."

"Keep going, just talk about what you want. There is no right or wrong, you know."

"I am not that good of a shooter as shown in simulation, so... guns are not a real consideration. Hand-held guns at least. Therefore, I can use guns mounted on my shoulder, if I want to. The idea of missile launcher... I think I like it the most. I do not have to learn specific skills to use any weapon, just point and shoot. Therefore, I will build my suit as a missile launcher platform."

"Good, good. However, as a soldier, I must comment that there is a risk in that configuration. What if you have already expended all of your payload and the enemy has yet to be defeated?"

"I... I should pack a few more weapons? May be a gun mounted on my shoulder? A machine gun would be sufficed to fight with."

"Ummhhh. So, your primary configuration is a missile launcher, with the shoulder-mounted machine gun as support. That is... balancing enough. Any idea on melee range?"

Then, piece by piece, the two of us sketched up the suit. She now had the required end result she should aim for. The next part was putting constraints on the suit with measuring. Of course, there were a lot of things to find out, like her reaction speed, her body weight, etc… The second was fairly important, the thrust to weight ratio was crucial in mobility. The girl blushed heavily listening for your explanation and mumbled something under her breath.

The work was done soon after that… and I must say, I was impressed with her work. She deployed the concept of an Artillery unit – with a fuck ton of missile, Katyusha-style. For suppression, she had a Vulcan-like machine, and for melee, she had a heavy naginata. It was quite a decent piece of weaponry. By the time we were done, it was fairly late, so we just skipped the shower and hit the canteen for dinner directly. The talk there was nice, even if every fucking girl kept staring at us with hostile intent.

When I came back to my room… that friendly façade broke. Talking and flirting with girls were nice and dandy, but I had a battle to prepare for. And the first step, as said by the Art of War, was to understand my enemy. In other word, I needed intel on Cecilia, her background, her weakness, her strength. One may call it dishonourable, but I would just say it as pragmatism. Over the top reaction or now, I was stuck in the mud now, which meant I had to try my best to get out.

The information on the internet yielded quite a lot of information about her. The first few links, though, were crap, giving her Astrology details… Like being born on November 20, Scorpio horoscope, fierce, loyalty, cruel… And I had to close down the tab early, I was running an Intelligence Operation, or IntOp, not giggling like some fucking school girls.

The next ones gave me intel on her IS suit. Its codename was "Blue Tear", sniper/fire support variant. It had three weapon, a beam sniper rifle "Starlight Mk. III", four optical drones with their own beam guns, and another pair of missiles. She also had a beam knife for close range fighting.

The official website of the IS Association (there was one?) confirmed those details. They had an article on me, but other than the name, they had nothing. To be fair for those bitches, I had yet to join any match yet, so a complete blank on my details was understandable.

Cecilia, on the other hand, had done so quite a lot, so finding the videos on her arse was quite easy, and it was even easier to find out her weaknesses. There were quite a few of them. First, she had to "stay still" to deploy her drones. Second, she was slow in drawing out the blade. Third, she used her missile pods as her trump card, which was meaningless now because I knew about them. Fourth, her accuracy was shit, being relied more on the auto-aim programs than actual skills. And lastly, her agility was crap.

With the map being a jungle environment, her weaknesses would be even more glaring… Heck, I could just wield a dual heavy machine guns and pepper her with fire. It would be a bit ineffective, but it would be still enough to bring her down eventually.

My mood was washed with a dose of icy water the moment I noticed a link "Director of Alcott Investment Fund and her husband were killed in a tragic railroad accident."

Well. Fuck.

I scanned it, then checked and double-checked it. The information there could somewhat explain her troublesome behavior. When the Brit was just eight, both of her parents were killed in an accident… right in front of her eyes. Before that, her mom was the Director of the 6th largest investment fund in the UK. Some people eve believed that this fund was able to keep Scotland within the UK for a decade longer. It was for naught though, two years after their death, Scotland broke away to become an independent country.

Still, the sheer prowess of her mother was nothing to scoff at. Her dad, on the other hand, was another story. There was nothing known about him, as if the mother was the sole breadwinner and the head of the family, which made sense when it was the husband to change his surname. Heck, I fully expected that there was a full sexist view within the family. After all, it seemed that the most her father had done was just supplying biological and genetic material for her.

I even expected that the man had little backbone at home... It would just make her whole perception getting screwed more at a young age.

Her former IS coaches were no better, with one of them being her cousin and fully dedicated female supremacy supporter. Needless to say, the time Cecilia spent under her tutelage was… colorful, filled with remarks against men, even if she had zero understanding on those words. Now, with years past, she would use those groundless accusation as the basis for her belief. No wonder why she was _that_ sexist and racist. She got so not by choice, but purely due to situational progress.

Cecilia's childhood was rough. She was not covered in satin or gold like I thought… It almost made me feel bad for baiting and hooking her. It was… sympathy, I guessed. I did not really regret my actions, but at least the girl had justifiable reasons for her actions, just like I did.

Still, it mattered little for the duel against her on Friday. I would still fight to the fullest of my capabilities, doing any less was just an insult on her, especially after I knew that she was not different from me.

I closed down the browser with a sigh… and it was just in time for a new problem to crop up. Just like my fucking life.

It was no one other than Ichika. The poor bastard was banging on my door, screaming out loud… It seemed that Houki, his childhood friend (the one with a large bust) was trying to help him. Or at least, that was what I had while listening to his broken words mid-pant. I thought I would be able to deal with the problem peacefully…

"Bull crap. You guys are just students! There is no way she wants, or even can, kill you."

"You don't know her, I do. She's my friend since childhood. She is very good at kendo and I think she can kill me in at least 10 ways with her wooden sword only."

"Yeah? And I know twenty way to kill others with just my bare hands."

"Really?"

"Of course not, I only know five, and I only practised one before I was officially taught."

"Huh?"

"So, shut up and let me diffuse this. You are my 2IC, I want you in one piece tomorrow. Capisce?"

I opened the door after that, confident that I could solve the issue without breaking any bones. That was my belief, until I felt someone (or something) rushing toward me with a sword in his/her/its hand. Intent? Killing me, may be.

And, as usual, fuck you life.


	11. Chapter 11: Chill and Intel 2

**Hi guys, long time no see. Sorry for the hiatus period, I was too busy at school, finishing my exams and taking my projects. At least I have finished them all, so... yeah, I have extra time now.**

 **Re-reading my work here, I noticed a terrible mistake I have made. The "old" Chapter 11 was uploaded in the wrong order - it should be Chapter 12 (it would probably explain the email about an update in my story a few days ago). So, in order to say apologise, I would update twice today, one for the correct Chapter 11, and the other for Chapter 12.**

 **Hopefully, I can finish Chapter 13 tomorrow - it would be the awaited match between our protagonist and Cecilia.**

* * *

Fuck me side way, ain't it? Just the time I opened the door and a girl cam striking down on my arse.

I jumped to the side, not even paying any attention to who she might be. It would not be a criminal though, because if she was, alarms would have been raised, or there would be some stench of blood in the air. Because there was none of them, so it was probably safe to assume that she was a student here, and she was agitated for some reason… And did Ichika say something about his roommate?

Anyhow, I decided to dodge and tried my best to calm her down. It would be too messy if I took her down here and now – not to mention that it was only the first day here… After all, it would be very impolite to send a student here to a lengthy stay in the hospital. So, a drop and roll it would be, non-lethal and soft counter-attack, or a "judo flip" for the ones not being in the business.

Or at least, that was my plan. I made a crucial mistake here. The speed, the power, and the determination of the strange girl were underestimated. She was hell-bent on pushing me away to get close to Ichika – for whatever reason it was. Seeing me standing in front of her, she simply raised her wooden blade up in the air and slashed it straight down.

While I was able to keep my head out of the main attack path, one that could split my skull open, my shoulder was not so lucky. A heavy thud had already slammed on it and knocked me down to the ground.

Pain flared up on my shoulder, blinding my eyes for a very brief moment. I felt nothing then, nothing but pain and numbness. Fuck! Just the first day and I had already had to fight! Why did the fuck the first night have to show a brash, prone to action, and potentially a tsundere here? Why could they not simply sit down and discuss like grown-ups?

My brain was slowly clearing itself up. Luckily, there was no follow-up strike, allowing me to recover fast enough. And with the pain being suppressed, my brain was quickly re-booting, drawing out counter-attack plans.

Oh, right, those girls could not sit down and talk with men – something about dirtying themselves with filthy males. Thank you very much feminazi.

On another note, I was still relatively intact. It was just a sore spot, a bit of bump, nothing else, no permanent damage or anything like broken bones. Fairly lucky for someone hit me with a hard wooden blade.

Still, it hurt like fuck! Growling, I slowly dragged myself back to standing on two feet. It was an unsung rule for the Vietnamese People's Army – one must either die on his two feet, or with a gun in his hand. We were just too spiteful to be captured alive and/or conscious. Anyhow, with my standing posture and with my wit recovering, I was able to observe her carefully… She spotted typical Japanese facial feature, with light skin tone, small nose, and a pair of brown eyes. Her black smooth long hair was tied into a ponytail behind her. Her clothes were the most interesting – or rather, the second most – as it was strongly resembled a traditional Japanese set of domestic suit. Something people used to sleep in, to be precise.

The most interesting feature was her… impressive pair of assets. They were hidden behind the suit, but it was not that hard to notice the budge there. And from the tone, they would be both big and strong in the same time, squeezing them would be lovely to say the least. Still, my personal preference was to hand-size ones, much more enjoyable and intimated.

But there was one problem though, the girl looked highly familiar somehow. I was pretty sure that she was also a girl in Class 1-1, and she was also the girl that disappearing with Ichika during break time. But now, upclose, something else was also there, something nagging at the back of my mind, telling that she was more than what she seemed.

Behind her, the spectators had already gathered around, or more like poking their heads out of the door frames. The braver ones were already standing on the hallway, showing their curves behind half-hidden under thin pajamas suits. Quite a sight to watch, really. I would have enjoy watching them if the situations were not so dire here. Besides, they were also staring at my body, and if I stared back, it would be impolite… probably.

Anyhow, let's go back to the big-bust girl, who was now glancing nervously at you. She had good reasons to do so, my face must not be highly pleasant then.

"Miss, please, explain clearly, and fast, why did you attack me?"

"It... It's just a mistake!"

"So, hitting other with a wooden sword, almost bashing their skulls and breaking their teeth, is a simple mistake? So I guess my past can be described with the phrase "a lot of slips", heh?"

"Hu... hah?"

I just cracked my knuckles and flexed my feet. If bad came to worse, I would have to fight against her, and this time, I would not be holding back:

"I'm still waiting for your answer here, you know."

"I... I thought you were Ich... Orimura-kun! He... he peeked me after I got out of the shower!"

That gave me a pause, forcing me to blink once, then twice. To be fair, she had a wonderful body figure, boys would love to take a peek on her. In fact, I did not even know if I should curse, praise or reprimand Ichika anymore. Even _I_ would want to see her in own her glory, let alone a hormonal dude like the Japanese pilot. Then, it was not like I could speak it out loud. The girls here would tear me into pieces the moment I spoke it. Sure, my martial art skills allowed me to hold the line, but as the Man of Steel had said, quantity had its own quality. They could simply rush over me and trample me under their feet the moment I dropped some unsavory lines.

So, just kept it civil and between me and her then…

"So, you mistakenly attack me because of what may have been an accident?"

She just nodded, confirming my suspicion – after all, the whole event was too cliché for a harem anime, after all.

"ICHIKA! Get your arse out of here! If you not come out in ten seconds, I will come in and drag you out!"

I yelled at the half-opened door leading into my room, knowing too well that the dude was hiding behind it. There was nothing at first, clearly, because the dude would still be scared by his roommate. But it was not like I even cared about it, I had already curled my hand, readying it for a punch. My mind started counted backwards from ten, and when the timer reached zero, everyone would be able to find out which one was stronger, my fist or the door.

But alas, that plan failed. The Japanese male pilot seemed to know that it was better not to further piss off two deadly teenagers standing outside his door. Still, he was still afraid, which explained why color drained off his face when he noticed the very pissed off girl and the boy who was cracking his knuckles.

At least the boy was sane and responsible enough to be calm and collected. Emphasis was on the word "enough" though… Being the highest ranked representative here, I was the one who spoke up, with a loud and booming voice. I hoped it was deep and rich enough though, badass men had deep and rich tone…

"OK, first thing first. Who are you lady?"

"Shinonono, Houki Shinonono."

That sparked an alarm in my mind, and I had to keep my face as unchanging as possible. She was sharing the same family name with _that_ genius after all.

Huh? She shares the same last name with that bloody genius? This bores some... serious implications. With Ichika has already referred her as his childhood friend... You have some gut feeling that some more sinister hands are at play - and let's face it, this is Earth and mankind, there is always at least one more sinister hand somewhere in the equation.

Still, this is something you will log in in your notes for personal investigation. It is likely that High Command has already known about this, but sending them some notes about this does not hurt anyone.

"And, mate, Ichika Orimura?"

"Hai... Yes?"

"OK, tell me what the hell just happen back there?"

"He... He sneaks on me when I get out of the bathroom!"

"It is just an accident!"

"But..."

"Ichika, describe the situation."

You cut off the rant in the formation of the girl, there is simply no time to be wasted here. Girls, more often than not, the over dramatise the events to a ridiculously level. Seriously, what is wrong with just pointing out the problems, the roots, and then the solution and work? Probably that is why many news anchors are female whenever a "major event" is coming up on the news headlines.

"Well... After dinner, I just take my suitcases and walk into my room, 1025, I did knock before hand but because there is no answer, I just walk in. I heard some kind of water running in the bathroom, meaning there is someone else here already and she is just busy taking a shower. So I rest on the seemingly brand new bed. A few moment later, she... came out... naked... and she tried to hit me with the sword without listening to me."

To be fair, if you were her, there would be a new dead body on the ground already. But still, you have to stick up to your second-in-command here. He will be your wing man soon enough, and keeping him happy is quite important.

"So, you are both in wrong here. Ichika, you fail to properly inform your roommate about your presence, Shinonono-san, you have already over-reacted. Please, keep calm and talk things out. This is high school, not some children playground."

"But... but..."

"Now, being in the wrong, what should you two do?"

"... I'm sorry Houki-san, for watching you... naked..."

"Shinonono-san? I believe it is your turn."

"I'm sorry, Ichikia-kun, for... over-reacting and trying to hit you."

"Do both sides accept the apology of the other?"

You send them the meanest glare you can, telling them that they should say yes, or else. You have been tired and drained enough already, dealing with a few high strung teenagers (even though you are one) is not something high on your to-do list.

"Yes..."

"Yes."

"Good. Please, go back to your room and talk things out. And, Shinonono-san, you are forgetting one thing."

"Heh? I have done..."

CRACK!

This time, you crank your neck and slightly move your right feet back while angling you body, looking ready for a fight. Of course you have yet to picked up a stance, but it will not take long for you to do so while doing immediately might be seen as... aggressive and warmongering. You have already reached the quota of fighting in a peaceful environment already...

"Hmmh?"

She seems to realise something...

"I wholeheartedly apologise for my brash accidental attack on you earlier. I hope you can forgive my mistake..."

Well, she does know her mistake, she bows (which is quite a big thing in Japanese) and her voice is filled with sincerity. And after all, she realises her mistake and attempts to fix it, which is good enough for you. You have no intention to prolong the... discussion here.

"Apology accepted. But please, be more... calm and mature next time."

"I will remember that."

"Good. Now, as I was thinking, can you two please get into your dorm and sort things out? We are grown-ups, not some chimpee chummy kids from the kindergarten."

The two teenagers go back to their room after that. Ichika seems a bit... depressed though, but then, he just has someone takes the hit because of him, it should be quite understandable.

On the bright side, the problem has been solved peacefully and successfully. No one dies or gets hurt. Of course you are attacked, but other than some stingy feeling, you have nothing else on your body. Compared with what you have already been through, it is practically heaven...

"Girls, there is nothing else to see here. Please come back to your room."

Then, once you are finally alone in your room... You wonder why you haven't thought of smuggling alcohol into the school here. It would be tremendously helpful if things like this keep happening.

* * *

Tuesday passes away with relative ease. You wake up at five (as usual) and despite the insanely comfortable bed, you are still able to get out and start a morning run. It is... a pity that the terrain in the Academy is quite temperate, meaning that there is no uphill, downhill or jungle, there is only plain road. You prefer some nice challenges though.

It means that you just have to increase the distance and the time you run. Ninety minuets and twelve kilometres (no load) of non-stop running, your T-shirt is completely soaked in sweat, and you smell terrible. Thanks goodness that you have a hot shower in your room. Even though you can take some cold water, you still prefer having hot water, even in the summer. Combined with the cool (and cold - for you at least) weather of Japan, the morning begins very good.

Your breakfast is hefty, as tradition required by men. Bread, bacon, eggs, butter, jam, sausage, cereal and milk, the energy input here is probably enough to off-set the amount you just burnt in the morning run.

It is... strange that there are not many students waking up this early. Even though it is already past seven, nearly seven and a half. Still, when you are sipping coffee, more girls start to pouring in. Enjoying the chaos and the harmony with hot coffee is... extremely enjoyable. At least the drink is more enjoyable than the dirt water in the military. Seriously, why does military-issued coffee always taste horribly? Lowest bidder contractor?

Kanzashi appears with her sister, with the former being a bit sleepy (but then, she always looks slightly sleepy somehow). The older notices you straight away, as in notices you noticing her and her sister. She... subtly nudges her sister to your table and leave you two to talk. At least nothing more embarrassing happens after that. The two of you just idly chat about the first "real" day at school. Schoolwork, homework and project. She also agrees to accompany you to the appointment of IS maintenance, saying she wants more details and inspiration for her suit. It is... something you can agree on. The GAT-X105 "Flying Dragon" is a general suit, capable of completing various missions and tasks with appropriate load outs. Last you heard, this 2.5th-gen suit will be mass produced soon in many country. Well, being put up as a contender at least.

Knowing the stereotype politicians, they will watch your upcoming duel on Friday and decide further. Great.

Today is also the day when you first try out your position as Class Rep. So far, the work is limit to requesting the class to bow the teacher before and after the lesson, building up the roster for "cleaning duty" and other miscellaneous tasks. Thanks to your previous experience with Vietnam high school, you are able to finish it, even if "just barely" on the roster part. The girls seem put off for having to stay behind class and arrive early to clean up. But you are able to convince them with the clause of school charter as well as the promise for a "quick" roster.

The day is pretty... decent with double Math, Geography, History, IS Tactical Deployment (you refuse call it IS Theory) and English. Pretty much a "full day", but with lengthy break and lunch, the day is not that bad despite double Math being the first classes. However, all class is just "the basic", in terms of tests, you can probably gloss over them in 10 minutes and earn full mark on this part.

After school is the appointment with the school's student specialists. They are a bit... miffed about having to work on the second day at school. But when they realise who the "customer" is, as well as the suit is turned on, they are not that... iffy any more. A full armour-on IS suit is something pretty

You have absolutely no idea what they are working on, so you do ask the team leader for some brief lessons. As it turns out, while the theory principle (why they work) is still complicated, the functioning of the suit is not that hard to understand, once you have broken it down into smaller pieces. Due to this appointment is just a simple maintenance run, the team leader gives you some lessons on how the suit works.

It is... interesting to hear it from someone who has spending time study here. She does not use any kind of sophisticated words or phrases, they are all down-to-earth, even some of them are borderline cursing. But then, as long as she gets the point across, you are not really concerned... Not that much, Kanzashi looks a bit miffed though.

You are able to learn the gist for IS Theory of the first three months in just fifteen minutes. Well, not the official version, but it will help you in class anyway. Most of which is basically Physics, or Mechanic, applied with some very delicate features. Niche skills, but not that hard to understand, to practice and to repeat. With the Brunhilde planning to speed up the IS Theory lessons, knowing these soon enough will help you a lot.

Then, the problems start to appear, but in a good sense. Due to your low usage in the last year, you have no idea that the hardware has yet to be fully optimised. A "good" and "normal" IS suit will have the efficiency about 90%, yours is currently at 75%. The wiring and transmission can also be improved to reduce waste.

You actively join the work alongside Kanzashi at this point. It is... fun to say the least. There is not much of a pressure going on, the students of third year constantly instruct you on how to work and how to fix it. With pure instinct as well as the ability to learn fast, you further cement the knowledge that the team leader tells you. You have to convert into your own styles and you need quite a lot of extra notes, of course, but it is the whole point of learning isn't it.

The work has to be carried out over the dinner, but it really pays off. You are completely drained afterward, but looking at the net gain, it is totally worth the price. The energy capacity is increased by 20 points, allowing more equipment to attached, shield point rises by 35, not much, but for a soldier, a gain is always a gain. In addition, all movement has been made smoother and more efficient, the targeting system is cosmetically edited to increase ergonomics. The factory-made program is a bit plain and not that user-friendly.

With the Blue Tears acting as a sniper, a small increase in shield can help you to survive just one more shot, even if barely. Better movement allows more intense and faster combat. Aiming program allows you to automatically acquire target easier - you can also switch it off and manually lock down on the target, faster in terms of total time, but less likely to hit. In reality and in combination, all of them to the difference between victory and defeat. Of course, you have no drive to lose... Even if you have sympathy to her. You may not regret your actions and she is still responsible for hers, but at least she has a justifiable reasons for why she is just as our past justifies why you are like you are.

It is a pity that you are a soldier. You will still pull the trigger if you sympathise with your target.

You dose off on the bed admist the tiredness of the day.


	12. Chapter 12: Last minute

It was Wednesday already, and I received my IS suit back from the maintenance crew of the Academy. Orimura-sensei was right, they were quite talented, clearing out the kinks while giving the suit more upgrades. The "Dragon" was not equipped with a larger shield capacity, a better energy storage – allowing more weapons and mods to be installed – as well as a better agility rating. I was confident that these minor improvements, along with my instincts and training, would be enough for me to hold my own ground (if not to defeat) Yamada-sensei in the coaching session. After all, her blushy and shy attitude made me believe in a guaranteed victory, and I could spend the rest of the day chilling and shit like that.

The reality, on the other hand, was cold and unforgiving.

She burnt me. And she burnt me hard. The whole blushy and shy appearance? That was an act on her part, a well-played one at that. She made everyone underestimating her before unleashing her full power. After all, she was… to weak, too small, to immature to be someone dangerous or competent. And hell, in my session, she did not even use any personal IS suit, just a plain basic one. And fuck it, the suit was not even customized for her usage, it was just a plain factory-built IS _Rafael_ one. No customization, no add-on, just a plain and stock model… Compared to my suit, it had less shield, less power, less add-on and a slower speed.

With all of that details, I should have been able to win…

Not being curb stomped over.

It was humbling to remember about it.

The session began simply enough, thanks to the fact that I had the basic IS maneuvering already. She tested me on an obstacle path, then increased the difficulty bit by bit, which then saw me breezing through all of them. Even the flight test was easy enough for me. Not the complex aerobic maneuvers though, I lost control due to my dizziness when I attempted to do so. At least, I still passed the checkings on standard aerial skills, even if I was much better on the ground than on the air.

After moving and running, the tests on shooting came – and I literally broke many records of the Academy, yielding a final effective accuracy and precision at about 90%. To put it in respective, the average level of National Representatives was about 92%. Thanks fuck for my Commando training and sniping experience, I was able to maintain my calm and cool – even if the only pressure was the time limit. To be fair, it was just a basic shooting range, one with holo screens and used tactical WMDs, but still a shooting range nevertheless.

The final part of the test series was close-quarter combat, which I had slaughtered the virtual/holo opponents. They were nothing compared to killing house training of the Commando force.

Yamada-sensei seemed to be impressed with my techniques and offered a live training with her, to which I quickly agreed. A mock combat was always much more preferable than some static tests, it was a real way to gauge my skill level after all. Besides, I did not have enough chance to try it out during my Commando training due to secrecy as well as a lack of trustworthy pilots. Besides, I was still thinking her as a blushy teenager, and she quickly proved me wrong.

And that was when things started rolling down hill.

Well, first, it was the suit she picked. It was just a Rafael, being put on a trailer of sort coming out of the gate. It was French-made, 2nd-gen, a mass production model, focus on speed and agility, with certain variants allowed a high degree of versatility. The one on the cart is Model Mark III, one of the most common variant – thanks to its insane degree of adaptability. The idea was opposite of the Japanese-made Uchigane, focusing on raw power and defence. To be fair, the part where she used the MP-model was not surprising, not many people could have my (or the blondie's) luck to have a personal suit.

No, the surprising part, or rather ominous one, was the vibe she was giving out when she finished putting it on. It was full of malice and threat, full of killing intent. I knew I was in deep shit the moment she exhaled a breath and snapped open her eyes. Instead of a blushy and immature adult, I only saw a highly experienced deadly pilot. The second part came soon after that… Her stance gave no opening for me to exploit gleefully. Sure, I could overwhelm her with firepower, but she could either evade it or to counter-attack. Being in the Commando, it was not hard for me to note that she could win even if I opened fire first. In short, I knew I was fucked, hard.

The moment the signal was given, I opened fire with my auto-rifle, attempting to suppress her. However, instead of sniping my head, she simply dodged out of my sight – fast enough to evade my aim, and erratic enough to prevent me from locking her down. Considering how much experience I had, it was not an easy feat.

Fuck! She was even pulling a Cobra move – rapid upward movement – while summoning a grenade launcher in the same time. And to think that the moment she finished, she still had enough spatial awareness to evade my ongoing attack… and left no opening behind. Fuck, was she not just a normal teacher here? Impossible! Even the two IS pilots I killed last year did not have this level of skills. Gritting my teeth, I activated my ECMs (electronic counter measures) while moving in a zigzag pattern, trying to look for a new angle to attack.

My line of thought was disrupted with explosion falling directly on my face. It was no one other than my own teacher, she landed a series of hit right on my face, a moving target… The more chilling part was that I recognized it – she did not use any aiming system, just plain old iron sight and scope, along with her skills and experience. It was quite surreal, but a great chunk of my shield disappearing disagreed with that.

Using the moment she had to stop for reloading, I took off from the ground, trying to throw off the aim of my teacher, even if just barely… Well, I barely did it, her screen of fire was still too close for comfort, but at least it had a lower accuracy rating compared to the previous grenade bombardment. Still, I was still tied down by her wall of bullets, forcing me to evade constantly. It quickly turned into a duel in the air, with me holding a SMG in my left and a rifle in my right hand. I kept dodging and dashing, throwing off her aim while putting suppression fire on her.

It worked well enough. She had to ditch the grenade launcher and turned to the auto-rifle… and she was able to zone on me with renew accuracy. It was only thanks to the high reflex, as well as built-in software, that I could partially evade her attack and stay in the fight. Or at least, for a while longer.

It did not take much time for her to corner me and began strafing me from both sides to bring down my shield. Half of my shield was nuked down in that single and final attack.

The next round, I switched my configuration, using the jet boosters, the funnels and grappling hooks. During the time for my shield to be recharged and my equipment to be replaced, I killed time by chatting with Yamada-sensei, who was still staying in her IS suit. It was quite… mind-wrecking to see her personality getting a completely go-over. But it was still nothing compared to the time when she stepped out of the suit. Her no-nonsense, tough, full of malice intent was gone, replaced by the blushy, shy and immature teacher – again.

Was that fucking dual-personality?

My mind just… went blank for a few seconds, unable to apprehend what the fuck had just happened there.

At least, she gave me an analyze on what gone right and what gone wrong. As it turned out, I was a good runner with good reflex, able to shoot accurately and precisely, and I did not totally rely on any assisting programs like other cadets. It allowed me to be immune to ECMs aimed to disrupt my attacks. However, I was not particularly well in aerial movement, which opened me for multi-angled attacks.

Well, I now knew where I was bad at, then. May be more practice would be able to help me overcome it, becoming an ace pilot in the process. Though I was not sure if I like the way it sounded. I was a Commando, not a pilot…

Back to the training, Yamada-sensei quickly stepped into the suit, and instantly turned into a hardass pilot… I decided to stop thinking about it though. I had enough headache already. One of which was about me being kidnapped – and I would love to blow off the fuckers having the audacity to make that plan and actually doing it.

The next round with enhanced hardwares went somewhat better. Key word: somewhat. I pushed out with the funnels first, the same kind used by Cecilia – though they were at a lower rating. Deployed them with a spear and net tactics, I tried to blind and confuse Yamada-sensei with a thick screen of fire, forcing her on the move as well as distracting her. The first part was a full barrage from my auto-rifle. The variety of ammunition caught her off-guard, blinding her eyes and sensors for a few moments. Using the said open, I was able to flush the four drones forward, blasting beams independently to each other – and to my own command.

The attack was able to surprise her, taking away about 10% of her shield capacity before she was able to pull back.

She was able to recover fast from the attack, but not before I noticed that explosions were particularly annoying. It was mostly due to the hyper-sensors attached on the suit, they were very sensitive, and with an overwhelming input like an explosion, well, the effect would be quite damning. Still, m drones did not even concentrate on the same area, reducing the combined shock and awe power, which gave my teacher a chance to counter attack and blast them out of the sky… and I lose a good chunk of my shield in the process.

At least, my next attack fair much better. Seeing that long ranged attacks would be inadvisable at best, I decided to jump in for a fist fight. Using the grappling system, I hooked with my own teacher (which sounded like there was a pun there), reeling in the teacher before punching her in the face… Well, it was more like a combination of punches, kicks and knife slashes. She suffered quite a loss in her shield rating before being able to break out, though…

It meant her weakness was in CQC, close quarter combat, or melee. While my skill in this section was still nothing to be compared to the ones like the fucking Brunhilde herself, it was still sufficient for the job. Gunning my jet boosters, I dashed forward, aiming in her general direction. Well, but for the first time, I failed to crash into Yamada-sensei, and missed my intended target by quite a distance. I was a bit… humiliated while I accidentally slammed into the barrier of the arena before crashing on the ground.

My teacher, quickly utilized the chance, opened fire with another hail of bullets and grenades. Having no choice left, I had to activate an adrenalin boost so that I could jump out of the stucked position and return fire. It was not exactly precise and accurate, but it was enough to force my teacher to break off her attack. After that came a merry chase around the arena, consisting of high velocity dash, quick snaps and short bursts of fire, and there was no stop in the process. The match was fairly even. I had the hunch instilled inside thanks to my real combat experience while she had her own experience of piloting an IS suit… not to mention her altered personality taking control over there.

I still lost the second match, but at least, the gap was much, much closer this time. She still lost half of her shield, but this time, it took her three times as long compared to the first try, not to mention more surprises being thrown in her face.

The third round was when I decided to go full out, no holding back. She deserved my full fighting capability, if nothing else, it was because it seemed she was taking me seriously too. Something about not holding back sprung up in my mind…

And besides, her new stand was giving me no window to exploit, no opening to take advantage of… Well, she was really going all out here.

Good, I could not fail her expectation…

I grinned, I took up my aim.

* * *

"Wow, Nguyen-kun, you are really good. Not many students have that talent, let along a first year one."

Yamada-sensei spoke while bending down, giving me a good look of her wonderful _assets_ while having zero idea about it…

Oh, right, I was fucking lying on the ground, dead tired with all of my bones and muscles aching and the helmet removed and staying my hand. My body was just like some mushy mush right now, fatigue and tiredness were taking over. Then, there was also the soreness in my joints, it had been a long time since I was drawn out _this_ much. The last time… was it the SERE graduation session of the Commando training?

Yeah, something like that…

The battle/training session did not take place as smoothly as I had hoped for. I was able to hold my own ground for as long as the last time, but this time only a third of her shield was down. I lost all of mine, obviously. My flying skill was a bit better, but not much. My funnel system was targeted as soon as they were deployed. Then, when I pulled up a screen of fire to cover myself, the boosters and grappling system failed to bring me close to my target. She was just too good with the guns. And when I tried to outshoot her, well, I took in more damage, resulting in my final failure.

It was… quite shocking to be at the business end of someone on my caliber, really. Shocking, and humbled.

"Thanks, sensei... and I think I should apologise you."

"Heh? Why is that? Have I done anything wrong?"

"Actually no. I just thought you are not fit to teach here, I mean I see you as an overgrown teenager can get too emotional sometimes and not mature enough to pilot an IS. Guess I was wrong then. I want to apologise for thinking that low about you."

"Eh?! I... I..."

While the green-hair teacher was still babbling, a cold voice appeared somewhere from "under my feet". I immediately knew I was in deep shit the moment I heard it. Somehow, Orimura-sensei had been able to sneak in the arena after the fight, staying completely under the radar _and_ my sensing skill. I had to ask her how she did it though, sneaking in was a very useful skill.

"Good for you, she is still holding somewhat brat. That is the skill of a former IS National Representative, show some respect next time."

Hang on a fucking moment. What the fuck did she just say? NATIONAL Representative?

Holly fucking cow, I should not have asked her to coach me then. She was way over my league… Or should I still do it anyway? People could thrive under pressure, and not to mention that she was extremely skillful. Having such a wonderful teacher training me would see my skill rocketing soon enough.

Not to mention that watching her _assets_ wigling around was blissful… But for some reasons, I felt I was a bit too surreal, not to mention that it was too heavy for my taste. Palm-size with blue hair was a better combination.

And what the fuck had I just thought about? I had to use every ounce of my mental strength to focus on the situation at hand.

"Yes, brat. Yamada-sensei is the former IS Representative of Japan, you should feel lucky for that."

To be honest, I was feeling lucky and relief. Still, I had to stand up right now, gotta show proper respect to the teachers and things like that. Grunting, I "opened up" my IS suit before standing up… This "Dragon" suit of mine would have to spend the night in the workshop for further checking. This fight was enough to give me a dizzy head, and consider my stubbornness, the suit would be banged even harder.

At least, I had been able to gain some valuable combat experience for Friday.

* * *

I bidded hello to Orimura-sensei, and she instantly pushed new homework for me. I would have to write a report on this training session, detailing what went right (which was not much) and what went wrong (almost everything)… Then suggestions for improvement – for both myself and the future training sessions. It sounded like some heavy workload, but at least, I was used to writing down After Action Report, even if I was banged all the way up.

It would be a very long night then. And I was pretty sure that drinking much coffee would do more harm than good to my health.

* * *

One day left to the duel, and it was Thursday. It came and went with some techno-babble. To be fair, it was just mumbling and babble for most of the class. For me, it was nothing, I had seen worse before, allowing me to take Physics and ICT [Information – Communication technology] classes with a breeze. The IS Practice classes had not taken place yet – something about we lacked the skills required – and another class of IS Theory was put in its place. For the girls, the tactics were dumped down to "pumping out more lead than one's opponent", but I knew it better: "more accurately placed and sufficiently powered lead and/or beam". Firing blindly had rarely been an acceptable tactics.

I gained more ideas on working principles of the IS suits as well as some snippets on their deployment tactics. At least the world was still sane enough to establish IS units in each military.

Because it would be too fucked up and stupid to abolish all military and use the IS suits for shits and giggles. Yes, I was talking about those bitches – fifth wave feminists… Many thought the third wave had been hyprocrited enough, and I would tell them, they had seen nothing yet.

After school, I studied the arena map given by the Academy. I would fight on such a terrain the day after, so it would be wise to study it first.

I had to say, I was impressed, the terrains being simulated/faked/built (whatever) were fairly complex. First, a stream with the depth of two meters (and it was swimmable) ran from the south to the east edge of the arena, effectively cutting off the south-eastern corner of the map. Second, a path was paved running in the general direction of east-west, and it was the only place where there was little to none foliage. In other zone, the tree coverage was pretty thick, but it was not un-manageable.

The map, however, was just screaming out "traps" – and shits like that.

I mused over the details. High density of material would allow me to play hide and seek against Cecilia, not to mention that they could a shot or two from her sniper rifle. It would buy me a moment to evade or strike back. In addition, the high amount of dirt and external/foreign materials could disrupt the proper functions of sensors as well as laser-based weaponry. I had an edge there – somewhat – as long as I used and exploited the environment properly.

The stream was mostly water, but I could try hiding under it, taking a measure of stealth against detectors. Though it would be useless against naked eyes, but the tree coverage would render eye sight ineffective already. Ballistic- and missile-based weapons could function normally, mostly because they had been tested and trialed over a long period of time, not to mention that they were specifically used to deploy in such an environment. Laser weaponry was still too new to the market, and in a "dirty" setting like this, the diffraction effect would be very heavy, effectively cancelling its power.

And if there was still power left-over? The covers would take care of that.

For my weapons of choice, the grappling hook would be very useful, allowing unparallel mobility in 3D directions. Besides, it allowed me to move up the terrain and cliff with little to no increase in power emissions. And with zero power emission, I would be effectively invisible on Cecilia's sensors, which allowed me to strike with impunity at both long and close ranges. The funnels were a bit limited in use, they could not fight as drones like they were originally designed for. But at least they could be used as static gun emplacements, which could be useful if I would be able to lure her into an ambush.

Regarding the softwares, well, extra agility never hurt, especially when my combat style demanded aggressive and rapid movements. I just had to hope that I could control it well enough, crashing down on the ground after a high velocity turn would be embarrassing.

At least, the remaining part of Thursday night was fairly peaceful, allowing me to muse on the map. It would definitely give me an edge in the duel tomorrow.

Cecilia would have to pay for her arrogance, no matter what.


	13. Chapter 13: The Calm Before the Storm

**Hi guys, long time no see. Sorry for the long hiatus here. I hit a writer-block for my Mass Effect fanfiction, and I kind of hit a low mental for this Infinite Stratos fanfic. Sure, it was just converting from the quest format to the story format, but I lack the spirit and morale needed to pull it off.**

 **At least this and the next week would be my vacation (yes, summer vacation), so I would probably have more times to work on my story. I wonder if I could upload two more chapters for this story before the month ends though...**

 **It would be hard, but still managable.**

 **In the meanwhile, if anyone of you has an account on AlternateHistory, I was making a thread in "Alien Space Bat" section, one the involving ISOT (Island in the Sea Of Time) concerning Vietnam and 20th century. If anyone is interested, please head over there. Thank you for your support.**

 **Now, without further ado, please enjoy the Calm before the Storm.**

* * *

Friday had finally arrived. It was the last day of the school, the last day before the freedom of something called weekend. Of course, freedom was a bit of an exaggeration, I would still have to do some works of cloak and dagger on an issue related to the suspicious relationship… Still, I would have free time to chill myself down. Hardened Commando or not, keeping up the guard 24/7 was taxing on my psyche.

Anyhow, let's go back to the Friday. It was also the day that I gotta duel against that spotty British brat, and taught her a lesson. Seriously, she insulted my Motherland, my people, and my own comrades, and I was not allowed to take her down? Heck, a .308cal bullet was a perfect argument ending for the ones like her. The only down side was that it would be one hell to clean up, which was probably why you thought you should not do it. Well, that, and the political ramification.

Of course, I still had a hidden assault rifle in my room, just in case things turned hostile. But as long as the blond took it to personal level, she would be safe from my wrath. Beating her fair and square in the arena would be a much better statement.

On the other hand, my hunch was in overdrive mode, giving me little sleep the night before. Having trouble sleeping was not new to me – PTSD saw to that – but the part where the excitement of an upcoming battle was more than enough to keep me alert. Hardened or not, the feeling could never be shrugged away. Needless to say, the feeling afterwards was terrible, leaving me twitchy in the morning. I still took the original run every morning, but the state I took it was half-asleep. Even a hot shower failed to wake me totally.

It led me to take… drastic measures. Triple espresso shot. Yes, triple.

And to think that sexist cashier from Monday appeared again… I had to dig my own nails into my palm, using the pain to keep myself awake. I would tear into her otherwise. Worse, she seemed to know about my duel by the end of the day, which explained her snide comments and less flattering lines about my heritage.

It meant more reasons for me to win, to effectively shut her up. Nothing worked better than an overwhelming victory. Then, it would be easy and spite-less enough for me to report her to higher authority within this Academy. But now, it was not important. She was just a small fry, and I had bigger fishes to catch.

A few girls interrupted my breakfast to wish me luck. It almost gave me a growl, no one messed with my coffee and got away in one piece. At least they were quite cute, not as cute as Kanzashi, but cute enough for my hormones to take place and stop me from striking them down… And why the fuck did I just compare them to the younger Sarashiki?

And even if my hormones did not kick in, my sense of danger and self-preservation would be enough persuading me so. The silhouette of a certain women in full black business suit was more than enough to make me behave nicely. The image of her staring at my place was clearly sufficient to keep me in my seat. She was dangerous, that was my conclusion. No idea why, but I had listed her as a part of "don't fuck with these people" list.

Still, the most intriguing piece of information was her breakfast tray. I only saw fruit and some cereal, along with a glass of milk on it. Not a single trace of high protein or high fat food… So where did she get all the muscle strength from, really?

The female sex had to take a backseat row for now, Ichika had already appeared… alongside his hot roommate. Both of them looked sleepy and tired, though the girl seemed to be blushing a bit, and she looked slightly happier. Yeah, I could imagine why… she was the younger sister of that insane genious Tabane Shinonono, the designer of IS suit. Now, one of her childhood friend was sharing the same room as her, the guy was also the first male IS Pilot Cadet of her home country.

It was one hell of a coincident, and one heck of a harem cliché. Needless to say, it was not hard to notice that Houki had been glancing at Ichika quite many times already. It was not like I was watching for the virtue of my second-in-command, but more like enjoying the controlled chaos. The first girl was, as usual, a hot head tsundere, usually doubled as a childhood friend. You wondered who the second was, probably a yandere childhood friend.

It was still better than being a lab rat. Or at least, that was what I used to think. The new events forced me to re-consider it. It was too early to draw any conclusion though, but I still hoped that I would not have to wake up naked and tied to my bed, surrounded by a bunch of sexy and naked females… with a gun pointing at my groin. It would be a nightmare for my own fragile sanity.

Anyhow, the connection between Ichika and Tabane was indisputable. The mutual link to Houki was more than enough to kick up some conspiracies going wild. Heck, it would be plausible for the insane older siblings trying to hook up their youngers with the crushes. It sounded crazy, but if it worked, it would not be crazy. Speaking from experience, of course.

I would definitely report this to High Command, even if it left a bad taste in my mouth. On the one hand, snitching was a violation of bro-code. On the other hand, I was a Commando trainee, and I was expected to gather intel for Motherland, one way or another. Not to mention that Ichika had yet to be my full bro.

Hell…

I sipped more coffee to calm down my nerve, which allowed me to notice a few more things. Ichika was being cowed by Houki over something, poor bastard. The older sister of his (and my teacher) was just standing there, looking totally amused. OK, her stoic face did not change much, but she kept staring at her brother's direction, and her eyebrows quirked up. Heh, I did that from time to time, so I knew it clearly…

The second important figure appeared, and this time, the welcomed was… slightly less friendly. Cecilia Alcott was being stared bullets at by most, if not all, Asian students in the canteen. Heck, even the Western ones were looking at her with contempt. I had the strangest feeling that if there was no "adult" around, the whole room would jump on her, teaching her a lesson in etiquette and respect.

I would have to join in, not to bash her head, but to protect her from being bashed in the head. It was my job to protect my classmates after all, difference in socio-politic matters notwithstanding. At least no one had the bright idea to attack her yet, so my life was made a bit easier.

Finally, some bright stuff arrived. Kanzashi had dropped by my table, even if it was at her sister's insistence. Tatenashi kept pushing her down to the seat next to me while sporting a smug look on her face. Seriously, what was wrong with the Prez? She seemed to be silently conveying the message of "I know something you don't" all the time. At least she had not pranked my yet, so that was something lucky…

She left soon after that, leaving her younger sister to a hungry and sleep-deprived tiger. It was never a good scenario, thinking about it. Speaking of the younger sister, also the damsel in distress that I picked up on Monday, well, she seemed to be upset, somehow.

" _Good morning Kanzashi-san._ "

" _You can speak Japanese too?_ "

" _Yes, but not much, I'm hitting my limit. Can we continue in English?_ "

"Yes, please."

"Oh, thanks. But are you alright Kanzashi-san? You look a bit... upset this morning."

"Do I?"

It was hard to understand her emotion right now, she was still her usual cold and quiet figure. Still, I had experience in doing so, I knew how to hide my own emotions, and I knew that everyone slipped once in a while. The blue-haired girl was not someone hardened or baptized in fire, so she slipped even more. Instead of the purpose-driven movements and gestures, she seemed to be subdued somehow, as if she had been defeated earlier. Personal experience told me that, one should not ask me how and why I got those.

"Well, I think so... Seriously, is there anything wrong? Can I help you somehow?"

Kanzashi looked flushed a bit, making my heart skip a beat. Heck, she acted just like I would when I was shy…

Awesome, one week into school year and I had been crushing on a girl who was also my match. Seriously, either Fate was paying back the shit it made me went through, or I would be going through more shit. Or worse, both. Knowing Murphy, it was hard to say.

She casted her eyes down and kept munching on her toast, one that spreaded with strawberry jam. She looked just like a cute little hamster, which made me to suppress the urge of petting her. The drive was even worse when some jam got stuck at the corner of her lips. And just like many (love-struck) boys, I picked up a napkin and cleaned it away, once she finished her bread.

Clearly, I totally ignored the ooh and the ahh behind me and kept watching the girl sitting next to me. She was trying her best, it seemed, to suppress her blush, her sparkling eyes and her giggles. It failed, so was my attempt to be cool and cold. I scratched my nose and made up a nervous smile.

It took her nearly a minute to calm down, by that time, my eyes had already become much more serious. She looked directly into my eyes with the intensity that forced me to stay focus. I was suddenly reminded of the talks Mom gave me when I was still younger and more innocent.

"I do not want you to get hurt."

"Huh?"

"I do not want you to get hurt in the IS duel this afternoon."

I was caught off guard by that. Being a love-struck young male, I secretly hoped that she would accept and respond to my emotion. Assuming that I was really crushed on her… Now, my emotion was in turmoil, it had been a long time since I paid attention to any girls, let alone a beautiful and smart one like Kanzashi. It could be a silly crush, and in combination with the strange scenario where I met her, it would be a terrible idea to rush it ahead. No, it was better to take things slow and steady, just like a marksman or a sniper. The punishment for otherwise would be too high…

Death and failure...

While I did not mind her company, I had no idea how to confirm my emotion here… Luckily, my Commando training gave me one hell of a tip. When in doubt, follow one's gut feeling.

Applying the lesion, I simply raised my hand and brushed a flock of her hair to the side. _That_ got her attention, and probably from other girls within the canteen.

"Don't worry. I won't. I got you out of the kidnappers with zero casualty and injury, remember?"

* * *

In hindsight, you should have gone for a more… moderate action. The whole class gossiped on your behavior near Kanzashi. And in fact, the part where you _refereed_ to her as "Kanzashi" was enough to make other Japanese girls blushed heavily. As it seemed, only very intimated couples did that to each other. Normally, a suffix of –chan or –kun was required.

Even my explanation that calling each other in given names was normal in my country failed to steer them away from their… dreams. Heck, I was just a normal teenager, ok a male teenager capable of piloting an IS suit and having enough street cred, but a normal teenager still. I had only known her for less than a week!

At least the class was able to go on with the standard pace. Or at least, as standard as it could be when everyone was whispering about your upcoming duel. First day in school and you were introduced to a duel against a Cadet Representative.

I still had not freaking idea how the school survived the gossip storm in the last four days without any major issues. That was a mystery that I never wanted to find out… Anyhow, apart from some sneering, glaring and not-so-discreet talks at the back, everything else went smoothly. The work of Class 1-1 was acceptable, not extremely bright, but good enough to earn quite a deal of good scores…

The same could not be talked about me and Alcott though. The two of us were best described as… professional and cold. We hated each other, and our pride and honor prevented us from stepping down and apologise. Sure, it was partially my fault, but if she was smarter, she would had not pulling that tricks… or if she had any tactical acumen in her brain, she would had run a few researches about me.

With both parties knowing about the other, it would be tough to talk normally. So we just skipped the talking part and moved to the staring/glaring period.

Clearly, in case like this, noting beat duking it out on the field. Sure, it was violence, but then violence could solve multiple problems in the shortest span of time. May be it was not the nicest or the most delicate, but it worked. For a Commando like me, violence was a way of life. After all, they would only send me in when all other nicer options had been exhausted.

It was annoying, painful and sometimes disgusting, but there was no other way. The duel against the British Cadet Representative must go on.

And as usual, it was the clue for something to take place. The President of the Student Council, a.k.a. Tatenashi Sarashiki, a.k.a. the elder sister of the girl I had a crush on, made me to question my own sanity (again). It was during mid-morning break, and when everyone was taking some quick snack, she made a school-wide announcement on the speakers. Needless to say, I groaned upon hearing that.

"Hello hello every one. This is an announcement from the Student Council of Infinite Stratos Academy. We would like to confirm a rumor spreading around with the past few days. Yes, there will be an IS duel this afternoon. Yes, the British Cadet Representative will fight. Yes, the only known IS killer will fight against her. Yes, the Brit started the fight by insulting everyone in the class first by being a sexist and a racist. No, Nguyen-kun did not tie her down and punish her in a dungeon."

I should have seen this coming, in retrospect. My back was instantly burned with the stares of everyone around me. Every single girl around me, being in the hallway, in the classroom, or in the room across the building… they were all staring at me and Alcott. I hated situations like this, I thrived in the darkness, not the light. Not to mention that I was never famous before, so being watched like this made me nervous.

"As I've already said, Nguyen-kun, our first male IS pilot and only IS defeater, will protect our honour and virtue at Arena number 3 this afternoon when school is over. Come there and watch him defeat the, quote, Bratty Brit, unquote, everyone."

Please. Stop. Please...

"Front row seat is available at the Student Council office. Class Representatives, if your classes are interested, please visit us soon due to limited number, only 20 are available. There is a price of 25 thousand yen... Heh, sensei?"

Huh?

What was that?

Same as me, every girl was looking quizzically at the speakers. After all, the announcement had been cut short. Or rather, the talk of mischievous elder sister (doubled as a not-so-sane President) was replaced by something crashing down, hard… as well as someone yelling in the background. Silence reigned for a brief moment…

Seriously? Did someone just barged in and beat Tatenashi? That took guts and skills, which meant the implications were tremendous. I knew one thing for sure, physical aggression against students was looked down heavily in Japan.

Then, the voice of the President came back, albeit with a much stranger tone. She was agitated somehow.

"Sorry, it is my mistake. All seat in the Arena is free and divided among the class, each will have their own zone with seats ranging from first row to the top row. Class Representatives please come to the Student Council office for collecting the tickets."

I tried to hide my groan, well, the key word was "tried", which meant I failed miserably. I had to stand up and walk all the way to the room. It was, after all, an order from the top, and I could not turn it down.

Yes, I had to walk across half the school to pick up the tickets, which meant more chances for the girls to spy on me. I was keenly aware of the gazes casted on me and the whispering taking place behind the windows and the doors. Very funny Tatenashi, very funny. She put me, the only known IS killer, against a Cadet Rep? Heh, when she put the words like that on the announcement, it was clear whom she was supporting.

I was trying to court her sister, after all.

Not to mention that Alcott had already insulted every Asians in the school. From the files I had, the Prez was half-Asian herself. That was probably enough to send her into a bloodlust. Too bad for her, she was the President, so she could not directly get involved in the work, or even outright showing signs of favoritism. Still, anyone with half a brain could probably sense her support in the message.

Too bad, it came with the downside of being watched and stalked. I would have to ask her toning it down for the next time then…

The break time passed away peacefully (and awkwardly) enough. Getting the tickets, both standard and the First Class ones, I brought them back to Class 1-1. Because of favoritism, I gave the VIP seats to Ichika, Houki, Honne and her two underlings. Luckily, no one protested against it… Mostly they were busy fantasying how I would deal with the blond British.

Luckily for them, I had a plan already. And it would not be easy for the girl.


	14. Chapter 14: Into the fire (part 1)

I walked into the preparation room alone, just wearing my uniform and the ring. Activating the ring would encase me in my Flying Dragon soon instantly… or at least after a period of five seconds or so. My record was 5.2, and my average was 6.1. It was totally unacceptable for an elite IS cadet, at least I was not one of them. I was just a plain normal student in the Academy, nothing more, nothing less…

At least, it meant that my talent was nothing special, but my origin was… well… There were only two male IS users on the whole world, I was one of them, and there was only a single confirmed alive IS-killer, and I was the one. Needless to say, there was quite some pressure putting on my shoulder, at least I was used it, thanks to my own mental self-condition. Now, before a major fight, I had to use that trick again.

Contrary to what many people (ie the stereo-typed politicians) said, killing was very easy. All one needed to do was to squeeze the trigger, press the button, or swing the blade as hard as possible. Of course, how to do so efficiently was another story, but at least modern weaponry was fairly easy to use. The hardest part of the job was actually to live with the guilt and knowledge that one had taken another's life. Not many people could deal with that, even within the military.

For me? Well, the war was shitty. I had no choice but to toughen up, bottle up my own guilt to release another time, which led to a severe case of PTSD… At least I had the talks with my shrinks, so it was not too bad in the end. Not _too_ bad.

For the duel like this, my opponent was not a fully grown-up, but rather a pompous teenager princess thinking she did. Even with the death I had, beating a little girl was still a no-no to me, controlled environment notwithstanding… Or at least, the "normal" me would say so, the alternate personality of mine would have little trouble doing so. At least that fucker still knew when and where to stop. He was a renegade blooded knight, not a butcher or blood maniac.

But first, let's check on the weapons and equipments. I should probably do so before jumping in a battle with only a knife on my hand. As badass as it may sound, it was extremely stupid and reckless, and I would like to stay alive for while longer. Even if the only reason was to check if that blue hair was as soft as it seemed…

…

And what the fuck did I just think about? Seriously, I had never thought that surviving that long without any… _release_ was that damaging to my own psyche.

I activated the suit, encasing the whole of my body in a ultra-light titanium alloy, it was very light yet it could take a direct shot of a MBT at more than 800m and not having a scratch. I meant my lone armour in that, the physical, metallic-ceramic one, not the shield. Of course, my body would be bruised, a 120mm round was nothing to scoff at, even if it was plainly kinetic and not "boom boom". With the internal chemical reaction, well, I would have a serious concussion if I got shot. The less talked about some exotic shit like Depleted Uranium or Thermobaric Ammunition, the better.

At least I would normally have my shield up, and I was not stupid enough to stay still on the battlefield. The experience and the training had told me that much… That was why I picked the enhance programs "Ballet" and "Shadow of Death", in fact, I valued them so much that I installed them as hard program to boot the suit with. The first gave me increase agility thanks to better muscle and neural reading, and the other gave the stealth. Not visual stealth, per say, but it was enough to counter most standard electronic detection on an IS suit.

The first gave me extra mobility, and in fact, it made me even _faster_. Every bits of my thoughts, the ones used to control limbs and body, were read, allowing me to enhance my reflex. It took quite a while getting used to it, but once I did it, well, it was marvelous. Sure, it was not enough for me to dance among the hail of the "Hitler's buzzsaw", the MG-42, but it was definitely enough for me to evade a direct artillery shot if I tried. And in this case, my opponent, the British IS Cadet Representative, a blondie called Cecilia Alcott, used a beam/laser sniper rifle, well, I could totally dance around her. The firing rate would be low, and a high damage output per shot would be meaningless if she could not suppress or land a shot on my own arse.

Of course, just in case, the second program was used. For one, her sniper rifle was equipped with tracking and locking program, assisting her in aiming process, and two, well, she had missiles. It was known that it was much better to _not_ getting missile locked than trying to evade them. In fact, all Air forces prioritized on breaking the missile lock with jamming, heat trap and anything like that, evading was more of a secondary feature.

The "Shadow of Death" was just a series of ECM softwares, relying on active defense to fool enemy's sensors and radar. With luck, Cecilia would see _nothing_ on her radar but static, or better yet, literally _nothing_. Furthermore, if I was feeling vindictive, I could probably set the program to generate extra dummies on the radar screen, which would definitely spook her up and giving her one hell of a migraine, enough for me to exploit the opening. Even if she decides to use LADAR (radar using laser and not EM wave), well, my suit had anti-laser equipment. In short, she would have one hell of a time trying to lock me down.

Keyword: trying.

In theory, at least.

Well, I had fought with less on my side before, so this was more than acceptable. Besides, it was not like I would risk my life here.

OK, the suit was done checking, the programs were integrating fine, and the school's maintenance program was spotless. I tried flexing my fingers a bit, wingling them around to get the feeling. Then I checked on my equipment list, the one I would bring into the battle today.

I had to admit, the idea of auto-turrets was one hell of the idea. It played perfectly into the whole "smoke and mirror" of the Special force. However, I awared of the risks, the first of which was that my inexperience in using them compared to Cecilia. She would recognize which attack was the real one immediately. Furthermore, I had no ideas how to set the turrets up in the designated places, or even had enough time to do it in the first place… So, I just had to stick with what I was good at.

The answer for that were the jet booster and the grappling hook. The first allowed me to shock and awe the shit out of my opponent, even if the said one was at National Representative level (yes, I was talking about Yamada-sensei). The increase in speed would lead to a small decrease in maneuverability, but nothing I could not totally control, that, and a shock attack did not need to be nimble. The second item was pretty much self-explanatory. With such a prototype arena like this one, the environment factor would be quite a major one. And the one getting a higher degree of 3D mobility would win the day.

After all, there was a reason no one wanted to _fuck_ with the Vietnamese. The first was in mid-to-late-mid 20th century, and the other was just last year. Poor the latecomers, they suffered a total casualty…

Of course, just having two was not enough for the meticulous preparation of a Spec-Op trainee. Considering the… bravado characteristic of some insane arse like me, I had a hidden ace on my sleeve. It was an adrenalin booster with three charges, and using all of them as one would push me dangerously close to the red line. Of course, it was for someone with a normal biological heart, my bionic heart could probably tank the increase of blood pressure.

Probably.

Sure, one may say that the practice was illegal, but the rules said nothing about such a practice. Oh, I just love the legality of this world. I'm pretty sure that even using Thermobaric bombs, Depleted Uranium ammunition, or even nuclear under one kilo-ton yield were also accepted. They were not mentioned in the rules, because no one in their _right mind_ would use those weapons in the first place.

Anyhow, these three uses up half of my energy pool. A small energy pool seemed to be the weakness of my IS suit. Not like I was hoping to install a shitload of equipment or enhancement programs, but having those never hurt. Well, it looked like I would have to make due with what was available to me. Not much, but they were doable.

At least I could always pump the excess energy into boosters, shield, and auxiliary processing units. I was way lower than Cecilia in terms of raw suit's power, so I would have to rely on the gimmicks to win. Well, gimmicks and my superior tactical sense, not to mention my own combat experience.

OK, the suit was done checking, which led to the next one, weaponry. On the on hand, axes and daggers was badassery, on the other hand, using them was stupid in the first place. Even with ample hiding places in the jungle environment, Cecilia could still snipe me down with her rifle, especially if she could dislodge from my own attack. No, it was much better, easier, and more comfortable to take her down with superior long- and mid-range firepower. The part that I had been trained carefully for it was a nice bonus.

The set up was pretty standard and basic, no need to get exotic here, of course. I just picked basic ballistic guns, the sniper rifle, the auto-gun (it was hard to call it "assault rifle") and a pair of handguns (even if the handguns were using the caliber a bit too large). Laser weaponry was available to me, but I did not pick them, mostly because my position would be given out a bit too easily. Not to mention that it would deal only thermal damage, compared to a whole _spectrum_ of possibilities I could achieve with the "normal" guns.

The sniper rifle would be used in a sniper duel against Cecilia, because as much as I hated her for being a spoiled brat, I had to respect her martial prowess. Politics aside, being selected as a Cadet Rep meant that she had serious skills under her belt. And of course, because she was good, I needed back up plans, which meant the rifle and the dual handguns, just so that I could rush her if needed.

However, my opponent was a sniper, and like any counter-sniper tactics, I needed overwhelming firepower, enough to generate an "overkill". That was why I packed a grenade launcher with a series of bandoliers going all over my body. The list went from standard High Explosive to _Thermobaric_. Technically speaking, the latter did not exist in my arsenal.

Lastly, just in case things got a bit too close and personal, I had a pair of assassin's blades tucked under the wrist. No one was crazy enough to use them these days, let alone installing them on an IS suit. Therefore, it would be one hell of a surprise for the blondie. One should remember that the crazier one idea seemed to be, the more likely it gonna work, and if it worked, it would not be crazy.

OK, the physical part, hardware and software included, was finished checking, no anomaly or threatening sign of crumbling was found. It was good, hard to imagine me going into the battle with a defective weapon.

I took in a deep breath, steeling my nerve. It was bit hard, mostly because there were others also staying within the preparation room at the moment. My… friends and classmates were worried about me, I was being pushed to a fight against the cream of their crop after all. Well, for their crop at least, but not for mine. Anyhow, they offered me their mental support, telling me that just the part where I dared to fight her was brave (or stupid) enough. Being a dude who had seen and done much, well, I repaid them with honor, in this case, front-row seat. Ichika, Houki, Honne and her two underlings were the ones who received the reserved seats for Class 1-1.

Obviously, I sic Houki on Ichika – not like I had any ulterior motive in that – just to keep the guy on the edge. Poor bastard, surrounded by beautiful females in all directions, and the nearest male would be too busy fighting to relieve his pressure. Just say that the girl wished me luck, and ordered me to curb-stomp that "bratty Brit bitch". It was why I gave them the boy to them as a present, because, well, let's be honest, it would be working out fine for both sides.

After Class 1-1 was shushed out, Class 1-5 representative, or rather, Kanzashi, approached me. It was… one hell of a conversation. On the one hand, she was curious on my preparations (and my hormonal side was agreeing to her), on the other hand, the less talked about my killing intent, the better. In the end, my pragmatic side won, I was able to convince her to leave, well, after placating her. She seemed to be very clingy and agitated… Considering that her rescuer a few days ago was about to risk his life again, she was right to be so.

Wonder what she would think if she knew that one of my contingency plan was to napalm the whole freaking arena – until I remember that I had no contacts or favour within the JSDFAF. Not to mention the political ramification of using the napalm, or the part a Vietnamese _ordering a napalm strike_ in the first place.

Anyhow, I was a bit scared of the interaction between me and her? Was it a bit rushed? It was, what, something like four days since we first met? And we had been pretty chummy with each other. Should I consult some psychiatrists on this matter? Relationship over a single mind-wrecking event was never a good one. Well, the first batch of free time I had would be the holiday, guess I should start looking before Christmas then.

And now, time to get serious.

 _Conscience before convenience_  
 _Reason before rashness_  
 _Dignity not depravity_  
 _Duty not dominion_  
 _No authority is greater than the People_  
 _No loyalty is deeper than the State_  
 _No power shall break the Shield  
No enemy shall evade the Sword  
We are Soldiers  
We do what we must. _

I flashed open my eyes.

There was a calm, serenity acceptance and analyse of everything I saw. Sure, the old me was still in charge, but I simply shoved all of my emotion into a corner of my brain and ramp up the logical part.

My ear recgonised the cheering sound pouring from the outside. The match must be about to begin then. I glanced to the side, watching a screen on the wall – a kick-arse screen by the way, 16K resolution, holographic style, and it came equipped with a 3D sound system. On the screen, my opponent was floating out from the West gate, at least she seemed to be a bit quizzical looking at the arena environment around. Good, she was at least knowledgeable about this stuff. She knew she was about to have some serious troubles, but she did not know that she was about to get fucked.

The commentary quickly began, and I felt something amiss as the voice belonged to the President of the Student Council, Tatenashi Sarashiki, who was also the elder sister of my crush. May be, if I did not lock down my emotion, I may have felt something else other than the curiosity at the barely-hidden hostility.

"Ladies, and Vice-Class-Representative Orimura, I present you Alcott, British IS Cadet Representative with her Blue Tears IS suit. Coming from a highly refined noble-like family, she lives up to her ojou-sama attitude and etiquette, almost cliche and stereotype. Her birthday is 20 November, meaning her Zodiac sign is Scorpio, in combination with her background, I am not that surprise about her personality. However, her recent action to oppose her class's choice of Class Representative has painted her as a racist and a sexist. Oh, and she insults three-quarters of the school in the very same day. As someone being insulted by her, well, I will refrain from commenting on that issue."

Despite using my logic alone, my brain was feeling fear creeping up on my legs. Tatenashi seemed to be preparing to pull out her Ace. Her introduction so far, while neutral, had a blatant tone of condemning, heck, someone may even say it had already held Cecilia in judgment already. In fact, from the cameras looking over the spectators, it was not hard to realize that the blondie had already lost a ton of support. Clearly, they did not enjoy being calling names by some racists in the first place. Then, my sixth sense was confirm when the Prez raised her tone by a few notch:

"Fighting against her with overwhelming odds, everyone, is our favourite male IS pilot, Nguyen Quang Anh. A former student turned soldier to protect what he loves, he is a real example of a knight. He never waver, he never surrenders despite undefeatable odds and still win in the end. For a Virgo born on September 19, I can tell you that he lives up to his Zodiac sign, loyal, steadfast and bright, the girl able to capture his heart will be a very lucky one. Girls, give the "Flying Dragon" a warm applause!"

...

I should have seen this coming, really. But it was not like I could escape it. I walked up to the deployment gate within my suit which was being set at the lowest power emission possible. I peered over the frame, and was pleasantly surprise. The trees were extremely authentic, and as far as I could tell, they looked _real_. But how did they do it? The most plausible answer was to have them moving those trees here, but the cost would be astronomous, not to mention that Orimura-sensei had said something about a new type of arena…

It did not matter much. The most important thing was that my deployment zone was hidden under the foliage, and I saw no camera within sight. No one could be absolutely sure that I had walked out, meaning that I had the capacity to sneak up on my target. I grinned, and then leaped down from 20 meters in the air.

Of course I did not attempt suicide there, but it was the fastest route down without being spotted, and I was a terrible pilot anyway. At least I was skillful enough to activate the thrusters, slowing down my fall. The information on the HUD told me that no radar ping had picked up my movement. Tactically, it could be said that the blondie had yet to activate hers. Stupid.

"Hah, he has probably cut and run already. Do you really think that he will fight against me here?"

That was the voice of that bratty bitch on the speaker, and before anyone asked, each fighter had their radio connected to the arena's speaker, which automatically sent their speech to the whole audience. Something about sportsmanship, I believed. Though no one seemed to take into account the possibility that at least one pilot would curse out loud… Then again, the stereotype they made up was that every IS pilot was polite, no one would resort to cursing like some "impolite male specimen".

So on the one hand, I could not curse, politics and what-not, but on the other hand, I could launch some psychology attacks here.

I strained my ears, listening from the headset. A few booing sounds had been heard, and it was not coming from the speaker alone. Cecilia must have pissed off _a lot of_ people then. I smirked and climbed up on a tree. Dense foliage was benefit to hiding myself, but it was also an obstacle when I was trying to lock down on my target. At least it barely took me a minute to secure myself in a stable position, with the British girl locked in my eyeball.

Show time, then.

"This is Alpha November. I'm in position. Target located. Ready to engage. Affirmative?"

The whole arena was stunned into silence. It seemed like it was not everyday when the girls heard someone uttering a military-like line here, or when one of their own was being locked down on the sight for that matter. Everyone had realized you had already gotten in the arena without being spotted, and they were scanning each and every single nook, trying to catch a glimpse of you. Not like they could do so, obviously. Besides, a phantom was way more effective in scaring a pompous brat like Cecilia than a solid physical person.

Clearly, the commentator realized this trick, because the tone of her was extremely mischievous. Even then, there was an edge in the voice of Tatenashi Sarashiki, after all, she was the President of Student Council.

"This is Central. We hear you loud and clear Alpha November. You are free to engage. I repeat, you are free to engage. The match begins!"

As soon as she finished, a horn flared up in the arena, almost deafening. Well, almost, because I had heard louder explosions before, ranging from artillery strike to _danger-close_ air support, and the less talked about tanks rolling over my head, the better.

Slowly and stealthily, I pulled out the auto-rifle and slammed a fresh magazine full of HE rounds. Of course "rifle" was a rather misleading analogy, considering that it was shooting out 30mm cartridges. The gun itself was a formidable threat, 30mm-round, 700 rounds per minute fire rate, and its standard magazine had the capacity of 35. Furthermore, the gun was also highly modular, just swap the barrel with a longer one and install a drum magazine, and it would be turned into a LMG, and if one used a scope, a longer barrel, and other gimmicks for target aiming, the gun would be turned into a DMR.

It should also be noted that the gun was equipped with a shield-pierce bayonet, just in case things got a bit too close for comfort, or I wanted to make a devastating psychological attack. Because, let's be honest, not many things were as scary as a guy running and screaming while carrying a wicked spear in the hand. And that was before one bother looking at the ammunition type, HE was just one of _many_.

The British Cadet Rep, seemingly unable to spot me with visual, decided to activate both of her RADAR and LADAR. As programmed, my suit instantly activated its jamming program while still limiting the emission as low as possible. I inserted a new command, creating ghost signatures, ones that would be seen instantly by the Brit. Three in total, one deployed south of the path, one haggling on the northern edge, and the last one was at the eastern end of the jungle.

In theory, the "real" target would not be spotted, but who knew? At least, even then, she would see four targets on the screen, and the odd for her to pick the correct one was 25%. It was good enough for her, but not for her then. To further enhance the chance, I deliberately made one of my fake signals way too strong and the other two just barely registered on the screen.

Again, it was a mind game. A normal soldier would realize there was a trick there, and he or she would have to tread carefully. Sure, the AI might help Cecilia to select "the most probable" target, however, her AI was not god-like, or smart enough to counter all human's trick. Considering that humans were the one setting the parameters for those special programs, humans would be able to trick them with just a bit of critical thinking.

Cecilia was the one lost in this mind game – she picked the fake target with the strongest signal.

She kept hovering herself at just over the top of the tree line before turning her gun toward the fake target. Unnoticed to her, I was sighting her through the scope of my rifle from another direction…

She squeezed the trigger, letting loose a bright blue beam. The land where it touched suddenly erupted in a cloud of brown and green dirt. She seemed to be smug with her smirk becoming more insufferable. Tatenashi was saying something on the speaker, something about explosion and loss. I just tuned it out, her talk was inconsequence to my job… I set the "Shadow of Death" so that the two weaker fake signals would disappear along with the stronger one when any of them was attacked. Then, I gave a new order, a new set of fake targets appear, quickly straining the smile on the blonde's face. She was shocked, and she lost precious seconds of retaliation while I switched for my sniper rifle.

She was trying to tag another target when I squeezed my own trigger once, twice, and then three times. A quick burst of three rounds slammed on her back, quickly confused the heck out of her. While none of my shot actually managed to land on her suit, they had finished their main objective, which was to sapped down the strength of her shield as well as distracting her. Through the scope, it was not that hard to notice the ripples forming on her shield or the disappearance of her smirk.

One more pair of shot gunned on her, forcing her to evade madly, and she then had no other choice but to land on the ground. She seemed a bit mad, even if her landing zone was a paved road, and not animals' poop. Heh, those little girls had seen nothing yet… I kept my scope sighted on her. I took another deep breath, and ready myself for another strike. Thank goodness, the recoil on the sniper rifle was very low, allowing me to rapidly re-attack on the target again with little time lapse.

The next shot landed squarely on the back of her head, the sheer impact caused her to stumble forward, and she quickly planted her face on the ground… And I had to admit, her butt looked very firm. That was why I unloaded two more rounds on it, just to see if the bullets would bounce off because of the sheer _firmness_ of her cheeky butt.

Well, her arse was not as firm as I would _like_ , considering both bullets slammed strongly on her shield. Worse, she was able to roll out of the way to evade my next attacks. The risk of being counter-sniped grew by each minute, I had already fired a handful of shots from the same spot. Even with no tracer round equipped, any IS worth its price would have a microphone installed, supporting in the process of pinning down my own position.

Tactically speaking, I could charge her, but the distance was a bit too great, and there was no supporting suppressing fire at the moment. In addition, the distance between two of you was too great for a success charge, and it should also be noted that Commando usually looked down on frontal charge. So I did the most sensible thing… I re-arranged my fake radar signals, and then I retreated deep into the jungle.

Activating the grappling hook, I pulled myself up on a tree branch and hid there. The news feed was then shown on my HUD, showing the arrogant snarl of the Brit… Seriously, did she have any sense of tactical acumen? Probably not… Considering that she was standing in the same place, and she was allowing the cameras to film her… yeah, may be only "communist" and "authoritarian" countries forced their IS cadets to undergo military classes. Not that I was complaining though.

Pity her. I sent another ghost signature rushing toward her, one that accidentally rushing past my own position. It alerted the girl somehow, but instead of bombarding the target, she actually moved out to intercept, preparing an ambush. Impressive, or in another word, plus one for effort. Her idea was good, but the execution was sloppy. In order to have an ambush, she should make herself as low key as possible, but here, her signature was as bright as day, and, well, she picked her spot as right under my branch.

Heh, she was probably thinking that she had caught me off guard. In reality though, it was the other way around, she was the one getting trapped here. Poor her… she should not have pissed me off in the first place. Silently and carefully, I stowed away my sniper rifle and pulled out the CQC gear, my dual handguns. Things would get heated up soon.

"I am coming for you, you insolent male! Come here and fight me you pathetic coward! Do you have any sense of honour?"

Her question flared up over the speaker net. To be fair, it was quite annoying, considering that she was accusing me of having no sense of honour… Heh, "Honor is a poor substitute for victory", clearly she had not heard of that. In the modern context of war, having honor simply meant treated the POWs and the civilians well enough, not using WMDs, and may be _not_ launching the war in the first place. The old view of honor about "fighting fair"? The militaries called it "stupid" now, a fair fight was one that you had already lost and dead.

At least there was another line in the same time – "Honor and Shame from no condition rises – Act well your part, there all honor lies". She needed to understand this clearly, even if I had to bash it into her head repeatedly. Regarding the "coward" part, well, I had been a coward, but the war had removed it already. And pathetic? Sure as hell it was not me.

Under me, Cecilia was glueing into the direction of my ghost signal, completely ignoring what was staying above her head. Now… time to strike.

She had a good sixth sense, I had to admit. She lifted her head up the moment she felt something wrong, too bad, it was too late. A bullet had already pinned on her head by that time, and only a shield could save her from an instant death. My dual pistols kept blazing, spitting lead into her body. She yelped and reached back, but again, she was too slow. My feet quickly landed on her face and smacked it around. Cecilia was forced onto the ground with a heavy THUD, her gun was thrown away. My fingers kept squeezing on the trigger, sending more leads into the girl's face.

She was squirming in fear, fright, and pain under my feet. It was quite a struggle, considering that she was able to throw off my aim a bit. Not much, but instead of five headshots in five shots, I only had three. Grunting, I applied extra pressure on my feet and shifted my aim toward her chest… and her boobs. I briefly wondered if she had boobs of steel here, but that was for another day.

The moment I emptied one of my gun and ready to reload it, well, I realized I had underestimated the martial power of the British girl. Sure, it was not enough to defeat me, but it was sufficient to push me back. Kicking her feet high in the air, she was able to slam on my back thanks to her slithe and flexible body. I stumbled forward, and instinctively activating my assassin's blades. Followed that was a series of punches and stabs, there was simply no stop, I used the sheer quantity of attacks to overwhelm her defense, causing her to yell out, either in pain, frustration, or both.

"You bloody arse! Get off me!"

...

"Ah. You wanker git! Don't you hear me!? Get off!"

...

"GET OFF ME!"

KA-BOOM!

It seemed like she was getting desperate, no scratch that, she was desperate. After all, she just detonated her missiles right next to her body, almost in a suicide movement. It was sudden, even my reflex, honed by war and Commando training, failed to save me. I was blasted back before I realized what had happened. The blast forced me back, throwing my head into a tree trunk. In front of me, Cecilia was sneering, even if her situation was even worse than mine.

It was a lull in the battle, and I took stock of my situation. I could not run or hide, so I would have to fight, at least my odds against her in an one-on-one were quite good. So the question here was how to fight against her. I could deploy my grappling hook and force into a melee fight, but the element of stealth and surprise had been lost, and a sneak attack was no longer recommendable. On the other hand, I could always get in a slug fest against her. The sniper rifle had yet to be retrieved, and she had lost her surprise weapons already…

I glanced at the score within the corner of my HUD

Blue Tears: 289/650  
Flying Dragon: 467/530

Heh, the odd was clearly still in my favor then. Even my suit was less advance than her, and I had a lower shield rating, I was having more HP than her, in both absolute and relative term. To think there was only a single exchange so far.

This shit was looking up.


End file.
